The Blank Period
by ceciliasms
Summary: Sasusaku centric - What happened during the Blank Period between the end of Shippuden and Boruto? This fanfic references heavily on canon material and fills in the blank of anything in between.
1. Going Home

**Hello, everyone. I hope you like my first fanfic.**

 **The first few chapters are short and quick, but they will get longer and longer once the story starts going. I plan on covering everything from the moment Sasuke returns to Konoha, his travel with Sakura, some nice adventures, (some lemons - nothing too explicit), and Sarada's birth.**

 **I have finished the plot outline, but I do take suggestions as the story goes on.**

 **Original Artwork by me. Characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **1: Going Home**

It's been a while… Maybe I'll go home.

* * *

It had been two years since Sasuke left Konoha, and yet it was still a place he called home. His old home in Konoha did no longer exist since Pain had destroyed most of the village. The only reason Konoha could still be considered home was because Sakura and Naruto gave him a new meaning for home. Even though he inherited everything left behind by the Uchiha, all this wealth meant nothing to him since Sasuke was never someone to flaunt wealth or prosperity. What was the point of having wealth if his family was six feet under?

For many years, Itachi was the sole reason he kept on living – to avenge his clan. Now that Itachi was dead, his journey to find a new purpose in life had only given him half answers. Perhaps his only path to redemption was not abroad as he originally thought – he did need to eventually make up for all the mistakes he committed against his closest friends.

Despite the atrocities that he committed when he defected from the village, Sasuke had begun to redeem himself and his family name. He turned a new leaf - leaving the old and hateful Sasuke behind.

Creating new bonds meant that Sasuke could get hurt once again. However, he knew one thing for sure. He was no longer afraid to become involved with those close to him. The ties that he had established in Konoha were those that he treasured the most - and also longed for. The incident with Chino and the exploding human bombs, only reinforced that Sakura and Naruto never gave up on him and that they were eagerly awaiting for his return.

* * *

Something felt different to Sasuke as he walked through the gates of Konoha. He was no longer considered a criminal; he was free from any burdens of his past.

His name and face were obviously notorious, and his hair growth not only hid his Rinnegan, it also allowed him to hide his own face. Perhaps the guilt and shame from his past still haunted him – he did not know how to feel about it. Consequently, these physical reminders – his arm and his overgrown hair – were also his own form of personal penance.

As per requirement, Sasuke had to check in first with Kakashi in order to let him know he was back home. Sasuke always avoided too many messages – he was not a man of many words. However, his feelings and words were also intensely internalized - perhaps it was part of the Uchiha curse.

As he walked towards the Hokage's office, Sasuke slowly took in the sight of the village. Once again, everything was changed – different. The old town still had the same narrow streets and cramped buildings, while new constructions were taking place where there were once wooded areas. Construction also started taking place just above the Hokage mountain, and on the outskirts of the village. Perhaps a new boom in population meant that several war refugees had fled to the village in order to have protection and opportunities for their families.

Through a pile of rising steam, old shops still gave off different scents of food throughout, making one more inviting than the other. Yet, many new faces now crowded the street, and none took notice of Sasuke's presence. Despite being considered a war hero and a criminal, many people knew his name, but not his face... he preferred it that way.

* * *

"Come in," Kakashi said with an unenthusiastic voice that Sasuke knew too well, "Oh, hello Sasuke, welcome home."

Making eye contact with the Hokage, Sasuke muttered, "Kakashi."

Getting right into the business at hand, Kakashi wasted no time speaking out through half-closed lids, "Well Sasuke, I'd like to thank you for sorting out the recent events, we have been working hard on our end as well."

Trailing off, Kakashi explained what had occurred in the prison after Chino and the rest of the Lightning Gang had been sent there. Just like Sasuke, they had been given another chance to work and redeem themselves with their village.

"By the way Sasuke...", Kakashi continued as he stood up and said, "I don't know how long you plan on staying here. Well, you need to get settled. Have you thought of where you are going to stay?" as he handed Sasuke a key chain with a single key in the ring, and an address scribbled messily on the key tag, "Make yourself at home."

Sasuke blinked twice at the surprise, before reaching out to accept this small gesture, "Ah, thanks."

"You may go, you must be tired", Kakashi then turned his eyes away from Sasuke and turned his attention to the computer screen in front of him.

Turning on his heel, Sasuke left the office.

* * *

With only a scribbled address in hand, Sasuke had to ask for directions. When he was younger, he never had to ask for directions because all the places he had to go had been shown to him by someone else.

As he traveled through several narrow streets and alleys so he could avoid the crowded streets, he passed by an alley that had a broken mirror. Looking down, he finally took a good look at himself. He had been in so many poor villages and out in the wilderness, that he never had the chance to see how much he had changed. His clothes were in tatters, and his hair was overgrown - definitely not the best version of him. All the recent fighting he had been in had pretty much done the final damage. To him, it did not matter since his main objective was to help those around him, in the quietest way possible.

Well, I guess I do need a new outfit, he thought.

There were many shops near the alleys that he took home, and picking a new outfit would be no problem for him. He wanted something simple like the clothes he already owned, without his family crest – since walking around with the Uchiha crest always attracted trouble because of his notoriety. Until he felt completely redeemed, he had no desire to proudly display anything.

At the first shop he stopped by, he bought the plainest clothes he could find and left immediately after.

* * *

A couple of alleys over, he found the utilitarian building that matched the description and address on the tag. Though the building looked plain and simple from the outside, the inside was somehow recently updated.

Sasuke's new home was one large room with a kitchen with basic appliances to the left of the entrance – a small sink, a double element mini stove, and a small fridge. The bathroom was to the right of the entrance with a tub, shower, sink, and toilet; and the small living room had tatami mats with a small short table. At the very back of the living room, there was a closet where the bedding could be found and stored during the day.

Closing the door behind him, Sasuke breathed in deeply. It seemed as if the apartment had been closed for some time. There was a stale and moist smell in the air that was probably caused by the straw in the tatami mats - nothing that a cracked window couldn't solve.

For Sasuke, it felt strange to not sleep on the forest floor or some moldy tatami mat with straw bedding. After all, he did visit very poor towns and villages that could not offer him anything too comfortable.

Hearing a loud bang from his from the front door, Sasuke instinctively reached towards his sword, before he felt a familiar chakra signature followed by loud yelling.

"OI Sasuke OPEN UP!"

Heading towards the door Sasuke said, "Loser, what do you want?" as he opened the door with a smirk on his face.

"What do I want? I want to punch you so hard for being away for so long!" Naruto replied while raising a fist at him.

"Hm, how did you find me so fast?" Sasuke replied while standing in his doorway. He definitely did not need to stir up a commotion amongst the villagers about his return, since not everyone understood him.

"Well, I was training in Sage mode, and could obviously tell the moment you walked in through the village gates."

Without thinking twice, Sasuke crouched down to put his shoes back on, "Heh, I guess it has been a while, I could use some training."

"Eh? You just arrived! You must be tired", Naruto's eyes widened at Sasuke's willingness to train.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke got up to face his eternal rival, "Quit the jibber jabber let's go, Loser."


	2. I'm Back

**2: I'm Back**

The new training grounds were not too far off from Sasuke's new place – perhaps this is why Naruto was able to find him so easily. The large area had an open field of sparse grass and plenty of sand. Several treetops lined the skyline against the sunset and the air was getting chilly by the minute.

Both men quietly walked side by side without any need for words – they were soon about to exchange punches and jutsus that would do the talking for them.

As they walked towards the center of the field, the wind rustled the leaves, and the city noises from the village no longer reached their attention.

Their eyes quietly met and neither needed to say when they could start – both Naruto and Sasuke knew each other too well.

From the opposite side of the field, they began their fast sprint towards each other. In a split second after, their forearms were the first to make the contact with a deafening blow. The air displacement created by the hit stopped the wind and the rustle of the leaves around them. All they could hear was each other's breathing pattern in order to predict their next move.

Sasuke did not feel the need to activate his Sharingan. After all, this was a friendly spar and his latest journey home did indeed deplete a lot of his energy. Conserving chakra for his Sharingan and his Rinnegan was important for his future missions since he did not know where he would end up next.

Naruto was also not at his top level. He had been constantly training in his spare time and going on short missions. His latest training did include utilizing sage chakra and other forms of chakra detection. Yet, Naruto's chakra reserves were still impressive, even if he did overdo his training until the point of exhaustion.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

Naruto was the first one to use ninjutsu rather than fighting Sasuke using taijutsu only. Several clones sprouted out of smoke around Naruto and began a systematic attack on Sasuke. Naruto's clones were extremely efficient in fighting together and devising coordinated attacks. The bunshin attack lasted several minutes, where Sasuke expertly dodged them all. Despite the clones being extremely efficient in fighting, Sasuke was still too used to Naruto's tactics and fighting style. It seemed as if no time has transpired since Sasuke last fought him.

Despite feeling initially tired, the physical exertion and adrenaline made Sasuke feel good and alert. It had been some time since he had been able to fight someone as his equal - without completely holding back.

Heh, too easy, Sasuke thought as he stretched his arm outwards and attacked the clones who ran towards him.

Inferno style: Honoikazuchi

All the clones around Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke as the dark flames pierced every single one of them. As expected, Naruto was not rusty in his abilities and expected Sasuke to have a specific response to his attack in numbers.

In a rain of kunais and shurikens, Sasuke showered the last Naruto on the field, which vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Where did he go?

As Sasuke processed the information without his Sharingan, the ground below him split open, and Naruto came out flying with his fist outstretched. In a split second, Sasuke was able to dodge the full force of the punch. However, the punch grazed his cheek and blood quickly started to drip down his face and clothes.

While Naruto was still airborne from his last attack, Sasuke quickly lifted his leg and managed to hit Naruto in the gut with a swift kick.

The breath quickly left his friends mouth, while he flew and hit the ground hard.

As his friend regained composure, Sasuke wasted no time in attacking.

Chidori

Closing in the distance, Sasuke kept his eyes fixed on his target, while the bird chirping on his right arm took over his hearing senses - the electricity tingled and ripped at his skin. The pain he felt whenever he used Chidori was the pain of being pecked by thousands of birds.

With a fast hand weaving movement, Naruto formed two clones that propelled the original into the air while a Rasengan was prepared on his right hand. He went at Sasuke with no fear.

As both of their signature moves landed against each other, Naruto noticed a purple chakra in the intense mix of colors. The energy released from the attacks suddenly turned the evening into day for mere seconds...and then it all went dark again.

With their senses sharply dulled, both men opened their eyes while they laid on the grass. Their breathing pattern was still accelerated even after several minutes after they were done fighting.

"Ugh I feel out of shape," Naruto's first few words in the last few hours seemed to clear the silence between them.

"Hm, I guess we need to settle this fight another time," Sasuke replied without batting an eyelash.

As the seconds ticked by, both Naruto and Sasuke felt the fatigue and tiredness setting in. They bled from several cuts and wounds, and odd areas of their faces started to swell.

"How am I going to explain this to Hinata," Naruto gave a hearty chuckle.

"Well if you weren't such a loser you wouldn't have to."

"Oi! Nobody lost here! This was a friendly spar!"

As Sasuke turned his head sideways to take a look at Naruto's condition, he then noticed his friend did not look so well and calmly said, "Naruto."

"What?!" was the only agitated reply Naruto could muster, since Naruto knew that Sasuke always had snarky remarks.

"Your arm..." Sasuke replied showing concern.

As Naruto looked down on his transplanted right arm, pieces of wrappings were scattered all over the place. His arm did not look too good as well.

"Naruto, you have to get this looked at..."

Uninterested of his own condition, Naruto only cared about the outcome of their match, "How the heck are you not hurt!?"

With a smirk, Sasuke replied, "I used Susanoo's armor before the attacks landed."

With Sasuke's reply, Naruto quickly sat up to survey his arm. Sasuke was right - the arm did seem to be severely injured, and blood was dripping and sprouting down from odd areas in the bandages. Perhaps Naruto did exhort himself too much and disregarded the pain receptors in his arm. Either way, it was Hashirama's arm and not truly his.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had only suffered a handful of cuts and bruises, and his right arm was intact – yet sore from the fighting. The absence of his left arm did not change much his fighting style. He had always been ambidextrous. At first, his balance was slightly off when fighting. As he gained more experience with his new condition, the lack of a left arm did not bother him at all. His refusal to receive a new arm seemed to also stem towards his refusal of his older self.

"Sasuke stop daydreaming," Naruto calmly said, "We really need to get checked out, we might be tired but I guess we did overdo on the sparring match."

As Sasuke supported Naruto's weight on his left side, Naruto allowed his right arm to drape behind Sasuke's neck. Naruto was too tired to feel any extra pain and Sasuke knew well where they had to go – the hospital. Slowly, both walked back towards the lights of the village. As they made their way towards the hospital, Naruto said, "Sasuke turn right here, then turn left."

"Naruto, the hospital isn't this way..."

"I know," Naruto shot back.

In a split second, Sasuke's eyes widened and his breath felt the jolt of adrenaline coursing through his veins - he knew where they were going. Sasuke knew too well who was the only ninja who could properly heal and address their wounds at any time of the day. The notoriety of her skills was known throughout as a top level medical ninja– Sakura was indeed Tsunade's worthy successor.

"I hope she is home," Naruto whispered, while he knocked on the door.

A minute passed by without no response, until a voice was heard from within, "Naruto you know how late it is? I have to be up early..."

As Sakura opened the door, her breath froze in her throat and she was unable to speak. Her eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected guest, and she stood there holding her doorknob.

As the silence dragged on Sasuke said, "I'm back, Sakura."


	3. A Surprise Visit

**3: A Surprise Visit**

Throughout these past few years, Sakura's features had changed drastically. She had gotten slightly taller, and slimmer due to her difficult work schedule. She kept her hair short in case she was needed in any special mission, and also because long hair was hard to maintain and treat.

She had decided to finally live by herself in a small apartment since she never truly got used to her parent's incessant bickering. It also allowed her to live the way she felt best – to arrange her furniture, items, and clothes the way she liked it.

Her apartment was small and yet comfortable. Her earnings through overworking herself at a young age allowed her to own her own place. Even though she tried to make herself comfortable in her home, there was still something important missing in her life. Through an outsider's eyes, she was living the dream – she was well respected, beautiful, strong and intelligent. A top-level medical ninja that was hard to come by. She was constantly requested on missions where strange diseases soiled far away nations. On the inside, she felt tired and overworked, with a melancholy that only a few could see through.

Ever since Sasuke left the village for his journey, Sakura had decided to concentrate on her own career and her mission in the health care and mental health field. As a Jounin, Sakura had thus cemented herself as the top medical kunoichi of her generation. If there was a medical problem that she could not solve, then there was likely no way to save her patient.

However, Sakura was an insistent medical ninja, and just like her master Tsunade, she would not give up on her patient until their last breath.

Sakura's work week was split between her two main jobs: the hospital, and the children's mental health clinic. In the hospital, Sakura was not only the main go-to doctor, she also trained other nin-doctors to perform the techniques that took her years to refine. These nin-doctors usually wore a white garb and hat, with the kanji symbol doctor written in red ink. The successful training of these doctors meant that 3-4 man cell teams had a greater chance of success in their missions. These doctors also required delicate chakra control, and vast knowledge of the human body in order to perform their positions well. Sakura however, was very fortunate because her chakra control was excellent, and she received one-on-one training with Tsunade herself.

The children's mental health clinic was also a feat that could be only attributed to Sakura. As a child herself, she saw some of her closest friends suffer from the lack of mental health care in Konoha. Sasuke for example, was left to cope by himself with the traumatic experience he went through. His family was completely slaughtered before his eyes, and the guilt of being left alive haunted him for years. To top it all off, Itachi's Tsukuyomi made him relive everything for 24 hours.

Naruto was no different. His parents were killed during the Nine Tails attack, and he grew up being shunned as a demon child - the one who almost destroyed the village. Naruto grew up hearing the faint whispers of people telling him he was a monster and should die.

That was the problem with the old generation. Always thinking that people should solve all of their problems privately – even the mental health problems. Perhaps the fact that mental illness was not recognized as a true illness added fuel to the fire.

So much suffering could've been avoided, she thought.

* * *

Being inundated with work meant that Sakura had less time to think about Sasuke and his absence from the village. However, her plan did not work all the time, since in her quiet moments she would still think about him.

When he left the village this time around, Sasuke was changed. His feelings were no longer clouded by vengeance and they were clearly developing beyond the friendship they had. While he was away, when he could, he would still write her small messages to tell her he was doing fine.

The first time he contacted her was during Naruto's wedding – that was the first sign that he seemed to be almost ready to turn around and come back to the village. As she stood on the grass field at Naruto's wedding reception, she saw a hawk fly in circles nearby. Hawks were commonly used to send short and quick messages safely since they were always able to reach the target.

A message for me on a day like this?

Congratulations – was all it said, and she knew exactly whom it was from. She had forgotten it was her birthday after all - March 28, and he was the only one who remembered it.

Through her deep blush, she looked up to the sky and whispered, "Sasuke." Their thoughts were connected to each other.

His road to redemption seems to be nearing its end.

* * *

There was so much she wanted to tell him - just like early on in their Genin days, he was able to open up to her about his family and his brother. Almost nobody else knew that much about him because he was not someone who would easily entrust someone else with his feelings.

One of the recent happenings she wanted to tell him was about her recent fight with Kido. She was taken against her will and kept captive in order to lure Sasuke out.

I can deal with this myself. I don't need to be rescued.

After Sakura defeated Kido and started to head back to the village, she did notice scorched patches on the grass and fallen Anbu traitors in a powerful genjutsu - showing her that he had come home to protect her and join the fight if she needed.

Despite his willingness to be back to help, he was not quite ready to be back wholeheartedly, since he left without being seen once the fight was over. Even though it did hurt her not seeing him for so long, she was supportive of his change of heart. After all, she wanted him to be happy with his choices, even if he did not want to be with her.

* * *

Sakura's recent work week had been tough on her. Juggling her time training new nin-doctors, managing the hospital and the children's mental health care center meant that she only had time to shower and sleep once she got home.

After another long shift at work, Sakura decided that she had completed enough paperwork for the day – endless reports about patient condition and improvement were needed to upkeep the medical literature.

Going home early was a strange idea for her since she was always on edge and agitated. Consequently, she decided to wander around the village before going home. The thought of going by Ino's to say hi or maybe even go out for dinner seemed nice, but for some reason, she wanted to spend her evening alone.

As she walked towards the path that led out of the village, several memories flooded her mind when she walked the stony paths that led to the gates. Night had already fallen and the street lights casted soft shadows on the pavement. The path that led out of the village had been a place where she let her childhood self go away forever. The path that led Sasuke out of the village was ironically the path that enabled her to become who she was. His absence from the village only made her want to become stronger as a kunoichi. She no longer had girlish fantasies of love and romance. She had matured through the hardships she faced when she felt alone.

The stone benches that lined the path out of the village were still there – the bench she was found in…

Sasuke, where are you?

In a split moment, she decided to sit down on that very bench to take in the night. Her life had become so tumultuous that calm moments like this had become rare.

With the calm night breeze and her tiredness, made her want to drift off to sleep. As her lids slowly closed, her body started to slowly slide down on the bench.

Sakura...Thank You.

The voice played by her memory, arose her from her sleep instantly. Her desires to see him again almost made her give up waiting since she had always waited for him. Despite being so strong and independent, Sasuke would always be her true weakness - the one she would most likely give everything up for.

During the times he was overcome in madness, Sakura remembered that she had decided to kill him - along with his death, she was willing to die beside him. In the last second however she had faltered - not because she was afraid to die, but the thought of ending his life caused her too much pain.

Trying to forget those painful days, Sakura got up and thoroughly rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms. Walking away, she looked at that bench once again. Resisting the feelings that flooded her every time she passed by that place, she quickly shut her eyes and turned her head towards her home.

In a hurried pace, she did not want to waste any more time that day. She could perhaps finally enjoy the peace and quiet of her home, away from the noise and sanitizer smell from the hospital.

* * *

As she unlocked her home, her first wish was to have a good soak in her barely used bathtub. She tossed her shoes aside and quickly got undressed as she walked to the washroom.

Staring at herself into the mirror, she noticed how tired she looked. Perhaps a good shower would be invigorating for her. With a good scrub, she washed her hair, and rinsed her body thoroughly, as her tub filled with hot water for a final and relaxing soak. Once the tub was filled with water, she carefully set one foot first inside. In a split second, her foot slipped on the lime formed from the condensation in her bathroom. As she slipped and fell, she caught the shower curtain in a last attempt to save herself from falling.

Ow.

Her whole bathroom was a mess. Water went flying everywhere, and her shower curtain was destroyed. Luckily she didn't seem hurt, and all she wanted was to go to bed.

As she went into her room, she opened her closet so she could pick something to sleep in. In a box placed inside her closet, were clothes that she had used during her toughest battles: the ones against Sasori, Kido, and the war. They allowed Sakura to reminisce on her life as a kunoichi.

Drawing her attention back to her nightwear, Sakura picked a large shirt that ended just above the knees and was short sleeved. It had the word doctor in a red kanji letter – part of the uniform at the hospital that Sakura never got to wear. These uniforms were reserved for medical-nins who did field missions of rescue in groups. The uniforms were made of breathable cotton in order to sustain the heavy use and hours at the hospital or the field, were easily washable and convenient for a field medical-nin. For Sakura, however, this uniform was nothing more than something comfortable to sleep in.

As she walked towards her bed, she pulled the sheets out of the way so she could settle in. The crickets could be heard outside her window, playing a soft and rhythmic hum. Turning off her bedside lamp, Sakura was ready to be soothed by peace and quiet that the darkness allowed her. The soothing darkness of her own dreams led Sakura to dream about Sasuke coming home once again.

Welcome home, Sasuke.

The thing is, I…

Then, pause. Her conscience brought her back to reality, when she heard two weak knocks on her front door.

Who could it be at this time? Maybe if I ignore they will go away. It is quite late.

What if...someone is hurt and needs me?

Getting up was quite hard at this point – she was exhausted from her routine and the amount of chakra she'd spend throughout the day healing and treating patients. She was also once again slowly storing chakra in her Yin seal ever since she fought against Kido.

It is probably Naruto getting hurt again with his training...no one else in their right mind would come by at this time.

"Naruto you know how late it is? I have to be up early..." she shouted out as she left her room and walked towards the door.

As she sleepily and slowly opened the door, Naruto first came into view – all beaten up with a bloody face and his implanted right arm in tatters, being held by Sas-

"I'm back, Sakura."


	4. The Reunion

**4: The Reunion**

Sasuke had finally come back.

As both men stood in the doorway, Sakura was speechless.

Is he...really back?

"Sakura," Sasuke brought her back to reality, "we need your help."

With a sense of urgency, Sakura ushered them in, "Come in, let me take a look," as she stood holding her door open.

Leaving their shoes in the entrance, Sasuke and Naruto then settled on the floor in the living room, afraid that they would stain the furniture with blood and debris from outside. After all, neither of them wanted to deal with Sakura's angry side - they both knew what her punches were capable of.

"I will be right back," Sakura said as she went to get the first-aid supplies. Her bare feet made several hurried taps against the hardwood floor, as she walked from one place to another in her kitchen.

Sakura's one bedroom apartment was quite spacious. The small kitchen to the left of the entrance was modest– something that only a bachelor person would need. The dual burner stove top was surrounded by a small fridge and a sink. To the right of the entrance was the bathroom, and the bedroom's entrance faced the living room.

As both men quietly waited, the fumbling continued in the kitchen. Inside Sakura's kitchen cupboard, there was an enormous supply of bandages, needles, and bottles with clear liquid in them. Most of these supplies did not have any tag on them since their owner knew what each item was used for.

Grabbing several bottles, bandages, and other items, Sakura made her way back to her silent guests.

Sasuke, finally surveying the damage he had done to his friend said, "Hey Naruto, stop flailing your arms, you're gonna make your wounds worse." As he tugged a piece of a dirty bandage to cover a bloody wound, preventing the blood from staining the floor.

"Thanks a bunch, Sasuke," Naruto gave him a sideways glance and a gentle smile. It was actually ironic that Naruto was thanking the man that had caused him the wound in the first place.

As Sakura crouched and sat in front of them, she set all her supplies around her. As her green eyes looked up from her supplies, she triaged both patients by just casting them a quick glance. Through triage, she was able to access which patient needed the most urgent care, by sensing the heartbeat, temperature, and overall well-being of the patient.

Sakura looked at Naruto intently and said, "You're first Naruto, give me your arm." As she grabbed his right arm she surveyed the initial damage.

Weaving a quick succession of hand signs, Sakura's indicator and middle finger were enveloped in green chakra that casted a soft shadow on the surroundings. "Let me cut this off first." With her chakra scalpel and millimetric precision, she gently cut the bandages without harming the skin.

As the bandages slowly fell off, the exposed skin showed several signs of profuse bleeding derived from Sasuke's attack.

Naruto knew well what the next succession of hand signs were since he had experienced it many times before. The healing wave this time casted an even stronger light, and a faint smell of ozone filled the air. The pain relief came soon after, as the chakra seeped in and worked to heal the deepest wounds. As the warmth touched his skin, his cuts slowly stopped bleeding, and the open wounds slowly started to mend. Soon after, the skin began to present a healthier color, free from the bruises that littered just below the skin's surface.

As the arm was apparently healed, the doctor surveyed her work by stretching her patient's arm in odd directions to survey any hidden damage. Satisfied with the results, she continued her healing.

Next, Sakura turned to look at Naruto's face. Her hands reached toward his eyes and cheeks, and the cuts and bruises on them slowly faded away through a warm sensation.

"Naruto, you've got a concussion. Did you hit the ground hard enough?" Sakura's professional side inquired.

"Eh kinda..." Naruto replied with a bit of discomfort, "I'll be as good as new after a good night's sleep!"

"Please, if you feel any different let me know and we'll run some more tests."

Meanwhile, even though Sasuke was hurting, it was nothing compared to what he had felt in his worst battles and fights. It was something that he could easily tough it out and wait – after all, he did go overboard with his last attack and did protect himself from harm while Naruto got the worst of it.

As he observed Sakura's efficient work on his friend, his peaked interest made him activate his right eye's Sharingan. Her chakra network was extremely efficient, and there was no waste of energy. He observed the chakra being gathered in her forehead, and the remainder of her energy being focused on Naruto's wounds. As the wounds started to heal, he noted that the chakra activated the regeneration at a cellular level – giving the energy necessary for the healing process to occur faster.

"Alright, let me see your wounds," Sakura snapped Sasuke's attention back the issue at hand. "Does anything hurt?" her voice was filled with concern.

"Ah..no," he was too intrigued to elaborate on his answer. Besides, he knew that she was more than capable of finding where his worse wounds were without him voicing it.

Inches from his face, her hand started releasing chakra into his skin. The warmth that he felt was soothing, and the pain slowly subsided. For the first time, he noticed that she was wearing an oversized shirt with the word doctor in a kanji letter. Fitting... - he thought.

As her hand moved from one cut to another, the flow of chakra she released changed in consistency and intensity.

To think that these skills needed years of training, study and above all, talent..., Sasuke thought as his Sharingan deactivated.

It takes greater skill to heal than to destroy...

"All done for you," she replied as she grabbed a piece of gauze and moved back to Naruto's side. "You both should be more careful next time," she added as she started to rewrap Naruto's right arm, after soaking the wrappings with an unspecified liquid from one the bottles she brought with her.

"We owe you once again Sakura", Naruto smiled as he surveyed her work on his arm, "good as new."

Growl

"Eh, Sakura do you have anything to eat..?" Naruto sheepishly asked.

Sakura got up to survey her kitchen cabinets and drawers.

Eh...I got nothing haha... she thought.

"Will food pills do?" Sakura replied. Her overworking had finally caught up to her living habits. Food pills did not easily spoil like regular food and supplied the right amount of calories and nutrients. Sakura had been refining her food pill flavor for the past few years, and they had gotten considerably better. She briefly remembered when she first made them, and they not only tasted horrible, they also left a bad aftertaste and stickiness to the mouth.

Despite the food pills giving the right amount of nutrients and calories, they still did not substitute food in the long term. This had been Sakura's worst mistake by neglecting herself and allowing food pills to substitute a regular meal.

From a drawer, Sakura pulled out two food pills. Despite the fact that Sasuke did not voice his hunger, Sakura knew well that after an intense spar, he would be hungry and drained as well. "There you go," she said as she brought two small brown spheres in a plate for both of her guests. "Eat," she ordered with her arms folded in front of her.

At the same time, both Naruto and Sasuke reached out for the small spheres their host was giving them. In a hesitant gesture, both shared a quick sideways glance that said everything. In a reluctant gesture, both took a small bite out of their own food pills. Naruto has had terrible experiences in the past with her food pills, and the memory of the bad taste still stung him. Sasuke, on the other hand, knew that in their genin days, Sakura was not the best cook around, and the few times she attempted to cook for her team, ended up in failure.

Surprised, their eyes widened. It tastes good!

Awkwardly, both finished their pills in one swift last bite. It wasn't bad after all.

Slowly, their hunger pangs eased, and their energy started to restore itself.

Having his energy restored, Sasuke decided to finally get up from the floor. In a brief moment, Sasuke took in the sight of the place Sakura now called home. The three photographs she had in her living room were the first to catch his attention – team 7, her parents, and an old lady's photograph. In a brief mental note, Sasuke wondered who this old lady was, and the story behind it. Yet, he decided to inquire at another time.

Next, he noticed when Sakura sat on the couch looking extremely tired – how much she had changed in all these years. She was nothing like the girl that had cried for him when he left the village. She was strong and independent...

She's become a ninja people count on, huh..., was one of his few recent thoughts about his old teammate, while he was in Kumogakure with the Raikage and the freed ninja. While Sasuke thought he was the only one who could dispel the level of genjutsu the human bomb ninjas were in, Sakura and Tsunade had also managed to dispel the genjutsu without any advanced dojutsu.

"I am sure glad we came to get your help," Naruto said as he heaved himself up. Embarrassed, he started to pick up the pieces from his old wrappings, filled with blood, dirt, and leaves from the training ground. The living room was a mess nonetheless. Adjacent to the living room, Naruto caught sight of the destroyed bathroom, "Sakura, what happened here?"

"Sh, she's sleeping you idiot. Haven't you noticed?" Sasuke whispered back. In fact, as Sasuke observed Sakura's work with his Sharingan, he did observe that her chakra levels were very low. It was inevitable and predictable that she would fall asleep like this.

"I better go," Naruto concluded, as he made his way to the door to put his shoes back on. In less than a minute, the future Hokage was out of the door in seconds. As Naruto closed the door behind him he mumbled, "Guess I'll treat her to ramen another day."

* * *

With the sun's rays hitting her eyes, Sakura finally woke up to find that her guests were gone. Still dazed by sleep, she accidentally rolled off the couch onto the wooden floor.

Thump

On her lap, a blanket fell right after she reached the floor. As she got up, no trace was left of her two guests – not even the dirt or leaves were left behind. Barefoot, she walked back into her room – she needed to go to work after all. Picking her usual clothes, she made her way to the washroom to freshen up.

I do look tired – she mused as she caught her own reflection in the mirror. She realized that healing her unexpected guests the previous night had cost her the extra chakra reserves she had.

Turning on the light, she first noticed the shower curtain was back in place, and the floor was dry.

"What?" she looked around to survey that her bathroom had been cleaned. "Did they do this while I was sleeping?" she thought out loud, feeling embarrassed.

As she finally washed her face and cleaned up, Sakura was ready to go to the hospital. But first, she needed a food pill so she could tackle her workload with energy in the first hours of the morning.

When she reached the kitchen she looked for her food pills – they were all gone!

Did they take them all with them? - she irritably thought. As she was wondering where the actual food pills went, she disregarded the white plastic bag left on her counter.

When she finally noticed it, her lips slowly parted, and a gentle smile spread over her face. There were two onigiris and boxed juice in the bag...

In a split second, she tried to figure out who would've done all of this for her... Sasuke or Naruto?

Nah, this is very unlike Naruto...but it was also unlike Sasuke...has he changed that much?

She obviously had had a special relationship with Sasuke while he was gone for the past couple of years. Yet, he was not too overly vocal about it – which Sakura did not mind. She knew how Sasuke's mind worked. He did not need constant reaffirmation of what his ideas were. Once he made up his mind towards something, he was usually consistent in his decisions.

There were many questions she still needed to ask him, and the previous night was not the best of times. This conversation was something that she needed to have with him alone. She wanted to know what his plans were after all. Was he going to stay in the village after all, or live a nomad life? She knew his job was important and that he needed time and space to sort out his feelings. However, she did not know how much he had gone through in order to be back at a time like this.

* * *

Questions swirled throughout Sakura's mind all day - Would he be leaving soon? Was this all temporary? As she sat in her desk, piles and piles of paperwork accumulated. She knew she was not going to get through anything anytime soon. Her mind was too clouded to understand anything beyond her initial predicament.

Her biggest fear was that he would be leaving once again. Even though it was a selfish thought, she still wanted to be by his side.

Loving him from day one meant that she was ready to face anything for his sake without question.

Resting her head on her hands, she sighed. Why did it have to be complicated? She had made up her mind long ago...It was all a matter of whether or not Sasuke wanted to be with her. At certain times he would show resolve and willingness to be with her, and then it would be all back to zero again.

Knock knock

"Come in," Sakura sighed behind her desk.

Shizune appeared at the gap left by the door, "Um Sakura, we have a visitor, he wants to talk to you," she announced uncomfortably.

Who could it be this time?

Out of nowhere, Sasuke casually strolled in.

AH! WHAT? - the panic set in.

"Sakura," Sasuke calmly began, "I have a few questions to ask you."


	5. A Long Day

**5: A Long Day**

There were many issues that still bothered Sasuke ever since he began his new journey. For one, he had not gotten any significant clues in regards to Kaguya's Zetsu army, and he did not know where to start investigating. For all he knew all the clues he needed could be in different dimensions, which he did not have enough experience in exploring.

Amongst other issues, there were enemies that Sasuke made along the way whom he vouched to come back for someday - many groups and organizations that had grown into power after the war left a void in people's lives. Those who did not end up dead were either sick or unemployed - willing to do anything to survive.

Every day, all these questions surrounded Sasuke's mind. He tried to help as many as he could along his way – those who couldn't help themselves and were at the mercy of outside forces.

* * *

After cleaning up the mess left in the living room and the bathroom, Sasuke decided to go look for a blanket to cover her.

Going into her bedroom felt like enemy territory since he could possibly find something he did not want to see...Sakura was a full grown woman after all. Quickly scanning the room he noticed the closet door was still open, with a handful of clothes inside. Amongst them, there was a black outfit for funerals, a pink dress, her usual workwear, and a travel cloak. A large box in the corner suddenly caught his eye.

As he kneeled down to inspect it, the clothes seemed to be completely ruined. They have been previously washed but nonetheless, they were not something that could be worn ever again. There was no need to ask Sakura what had happened – everything was self-explanatory. Some pieces had multiple abdominal punctures, some had light scruffs, and the last piece of the bunch was the black shirt and pants she wore during the war... it still showed the burns caused by the acid.

All of his old clothes had been destroyed with training and time itself. Apart from the knowledge and strength gained, Sasuke did not want to remember his old self. He did not need any physical reminders of all the darkness and sadness he had gone through. His life had been completely different from Sakura's – an emotional rollercoaster that he did not want to go through again. He had chosen the path that ultimately hurt his friends and killed his brother. It is a choice he will have to live with for the rest of his life.

Upon remembering why he was in Sakura's bedroom in the first place, he got back up on his feet and took the blanket that was on the bed. Lifting the blanket made the smell of fresh laundry lift along with it. The fresh smell reminded him of being home...of having a family...

Hearing the sound of his own footsteps back in the living room, Sasuke stopped in front of Sakura and covered her with the blanket he was holding.

In the kitchen, Sasuke found the stash of food pills inside the drawer - it would prove to be useful during his journey since he did not always have a place to eat properly. Also, these food pills had a large shelf life, and it was something that was easy to carry, tasted good, and was nutritious.

Sasuke always demonstrated his feelings towards Sakura in the most unusual ways. As soon as he took the food pills for himself, he briefly put on his sandals and left the apartment just to come back in minutes later with an actual meal for her breakfast. A meal that he had bought at a nearby family mart.

Before Sasuke finally left her apartment, he quietly put on his sandals and stole a quick glance at Sakura...she was still out for the count. His feelings for her had been different for quite some time – yet he did not know how to fully express them. He had trained his whole life to become a killing machine but that was no longer his objective. He had finally grown out of his cycle of hate and conquest and his vision was no longer blurred by his unrealistic ideas. As evil as the world may be, sometimes you just have to accept it and go along with it. Forcefully trying to change the status quo would only mean a prolonged cycle of hate and resentment.

* * *

In the middle of the night, it seemed as if Kohona had not changed during the years he was gone. There was not a single soul to be seen awake at that hour, and Sasuke did not care – he liked the calm and peaceful aspect of it. His most recent years had been one long lonely path…

After a short walk, Sasuke calmly arrived at his front door. Standing in front of it for a few seconds, made him realize how much the people closest to him cared about his existence. Kakashi had allowed him to have this apartment; Naruto had fervently fought for his freedom, and Sakura had never given up on her love and hope for him... She was right all along.

As he opened the door to his home once again, he stood in the doorway and was greeted with the stale air that collected in the last few hours. The lights were left off, and the streetlights cast his own shadow inside. It was a different feeling coming to a place that he would be calling home. It was so empty...

A fulfilling night of sleep was in order for him, even if it would only be a few hours – he had planned to be up early in order to properly meet Sakura. After a short shower to get cleaned from the dirt and grime left behind his travel back home and his battle against Naruto, he did not bother to put anything on to sleep. He placed his bedding on the floor, while his body begged him to finally settle down. His lids were very heavy from lack of sleep, and his eyes were now burning. It took him quite some time to finally fall asleep. His surroundings were too strange for him. The street lights that cast a shadow inside burned against his lids, and the absolute quiet from the streets left his heart unsettled and his ears ringing.

* * *

As the first rays of sunshine came down upon his eyes, Sasuke woke up. He had not dreamed of anything in particular. He had been so tired from his recent travels that just having any kind of rest was already enough for him.

Getting up was quite a challenge for him, as he breathed in deep before he heaved himself to sit up. It seemed to be quite early and Sasuke did not know exactly the time. It had been years since he had followed the time constraints of a clock – he could roughly tell what time it was with the sun's position.

Many years ago, he did not see the sun at all...for months at a time...the days he spent in Orochimaru's lair were amongst his darkest times.

In the washroom, Sasuke stared at his own serious features. He had changed quite a bit in the last few years. He was taller and his hair had grown to cover part of his face. Turning on the tap he collected some water in the palm of his hand, and threw the handful of cold water on his face. The cold water quickly sparked his adrenaline and attention back in. He had so many things to figure out still. Unceremoniously, Sasuke walked back into his living room/bedroom and put the bedding and sheets away. Still naked, Sasuke put on the new set of clothes he had bought the day before. The dark clothes were quite similar from the ones he got rid of the night before.

The smell from different street vendors filled the air, as Sasuke went to the hospital. He knew where to find her. The city was lively once again and no one seemed bothered or worried about his presence as he walked down the thin street alleys.

After many years he felt out of place being in a hospital as a visitor and not a patient. "I am here to see Sakura," he affirmed as he approached a receptionist.

"Sorry, Miss Sakura is busy for the next few hours," replied an apologetic receptionist who seemed to be too busy with her own work.

"How long is the wait time?" Sasuke inquired.

"Minimum two hours wait for consultation."

Turning back from the reception desk, Sasuke decided to follow her chakra signature...he was not a patient, nor he needed to have a consultation with her. There was no way she could be as busy as the receptionists made it seem...he had to find it out by himself.

When he reached the second floor, Sasuke was met by someone he hadn't seen for a long time - Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune.

Shizune seemed to know exactly why he was in the hospital. Approaching Sasuke, she put her hands up in a defensive posture and said, "Please just wait a few minutes, she has a huge workload to go through this morning..."

Ignoring her, he just kept on walking.

As he walked through the second-floor hall towards Sakura's office, Sasuke tried to repress his memories. It had been a place where Team Seven ended. It was the beginning of the end then… when he gave up on the little happiness he had found ever since his family was killed. Immersed in these thoughts, he barely paid attention to what Shizune was trying to explain to him. He could tell that Sakura's chakra signature was coming from the very end of the hall.

Panicked, Shizune had to do some damage control. Running past Sasuke, Shizune reached Sakura's door first and knocked twice. The least she could do was announce the odd visitor without alarming Sakura.

"Um Sakura, we have a visitor, he wants to talk to you," Shizune peeked her head in and stepped back to let Sasuke inside.

"Sakura," Sasuke calmly began, "I have a few questions to ask you."

Seeing the panicked look on her face, he approached her desk.

"There are things... that have been worrying me," Sasuke once again broke the silence. Ever since he was a Genin, he had only been able to confide in Sakura and no one else. Despite the fact that Sakura was sometimes loud and energetic, she could still sit quietly and listen to him.

Standing up from her desk, Sakura could no longer bear the distance between them. She knew that Sasuke had come to talk and confide in her. She knew him too well – but she had also been patiently waiting for him. Whatever the problem was could wait a minute or two.

Closing the distance between them, she walked up to Sasuke. Their height difference had increased even more since he last poked her forehead...

Sakura did not need to voice how much she had missed him, she immediately hugged him taking in his scent. Throughout the past few years, she did have a few exchanges with him via message but sometimes it was hard to hear back from him. Their message exchange was in a way maintaining their long-distance relationship. He would message her on her birthday, or on a special occasion – and she would do the same.

Now he was here. Standing right in front of her - flabbergasted at her sudden outpour of feelings.

As he finally came to himself, his right arm slowly moved upwards to return the gesture by wrapping his arm around her. Drawing her in, he buried his face in her hair and breathed in deeply. He was no longer afraid of involvement.

Still in an embrace, Sakura said, "What has been worrying you?" she did not want to let him go again.

"There have been...instances where I have found some clues that show that the war is still not over," he then continued, "I have found no physical evidence in this world, dimension, apart from a first-hand account that there have been armies of Zetsu on the move while the war occurred."

As Sasuke carefully explained his reasoning to Sakura, they both broke off their embrace so he could elaborate better. "Also, there have been dangerous groups forming ever since the war ended - many with highly skilled ninjas...just like the Anbu group you and I fought against."

Kido...Sakura wanted to tell Sasuke all she knew about this matter. If more people like Kido found out how to tap Sasuke and Naruto's powers, it could be an issue as well.

Was there someone like Kido, pulling strings from the shadows? Perhaps the two were worrying too much and overthinking things. So far they had been able to deal with all threats with great efficiency.

"I have been doing research on my spare time, about the new drugs that have been recently developed and commercialized in the black market," Sakura offered as she walked behind her desk and sat. "It seems that there are still tailed beast drugs out there. I wonder if whoever is behind this has been able to completely replicate the chemical compound of the original...or maybe even enhance it?"

Flipping through the stack of papers on her desk, Sakura pulled out the interrogation that Ibiki Morino had conducted on Kido. As she handed the pages for Sasuke to inspect, she couldn't help but steal a glance while he went through the information presented to him.

"I wonder if you had seen or heard something while you were held captive," Sasuke mused still standing in front of Sakura's desk, "Perhaps any other connections Kido might have had...?"

"I was drugged and unconscious for some time. Would it help if you searched my recent memory?" Sakura suggested. When she was kidnapped, they did inject an unknown substance that made her pass out immediately. The effect of this psychomotor drug might have still been unknown since it did affect her ability to knead chakra while her muscles were numbed. While her immediate memory might not recall it, a dojutsu user may be able to find any answers.

Sasuke did not want to flip through Sakura's recent memory like a book...it was too invasive. He knew that her account and research was done to the best of her ability. "Don't worry, I will eventually pay Kido a visit."

Sasuke turned on his heel to leave and paused without looking back, "Have you been training?"

Feeling the jolt of surprise, Sakura looked up from her stack of papers, "Lately no. I have been running a hospital, a children's mental health care center, and missions as well."

With his eyes shut and a gentle smirk he replied, "You're not gonna become Hokage like this," as he slowly shut the door behind him.

With a wide smile, Sakura reminisced. It had been quite some time since Sasuke had been playful about anything in particular. When they were still Genins, Kakashi had first told both Naruto and Sasuke that Sakura had the most chances of becoming Hokage - to bring out the competitive spirit in both of the boys. Now they were all adults following their own dreams for a better future.

Outside of Sakura's office, Sasuke sighed – he had so much to do. He would leave the Kaguya problem on the back burner, and focus on the new problems at hand. He could not ignore the existence of a Tailed Beast Drug….

* * *

With the end of her day approaching, Sakura felt the need to continue working. It had been a particularly slow day at the hospital and all she had to do was paperwork. Since she still had a considerable amount of time before dinner, Sakura decided to visit the children's center.

The new building sat on the outskirts of the village and could be seen from quite a distance. The late afternoon seemed serene and the air was just starting to get cooler. Going from the hospital to the children's center was relatively quick for Sakura since she knew route by heart. This center had become her dream come true – the village was fully funding the professionals and the upkeep necessary to maintain the children's mental health.

The sliding glass doors opened unceremoniously as it felt her approaching presence. Inside, the colorful walls and toys gave life around the receptionists' desks.

"Good afternoon, Miss Haruno," one of the receptionists looked up from her work. "Miss Yamanaka is waiting for you."

The building was aesthetically pleasing inside just as much as it was outside. The halls were wide and the windows were large – which allowed plenty of natural light in. The colors on the walls were soft and calming and yet gleeful. Passing through the double doors at the end of the hall, Sakura knocked on the first door to her right. "Come in," a voice was heard inside.

In a large white lab coat, Ino got up from her desk to greet her best friend and tell her of the latest news, "We've had new patients come in this morning. They were found wandering on the outskirts of the village. Two children with post-traumatic stress disorder. Both are catatonic and unresponsive to any other stimuli. They are starting to respond to the new mental therapy we have learned from Tsunade. They are due to have their next session soon," Ino couldn't contain her excitement in front of Sakura.

"Can I see them Ino?" Sakura inquired.

"This way."

* * *

In a separate room, two opposing cots could be seen from the doorway where two children seemed to be sleeping. They were slightly malnourished, but that was something that could be worked with. While Sakura approached the bed on the right, she noticed the first child was sleeping in a coma-like trance. She had practiced many times with Tsunade the techniques necessary to provide mental therapy. After all, chakra could heal damaged tissue and the chemical imbalances of the brain. The brain and its delicate networks needed extra care when pouring chakra into them.

Lifting her right hand, a soft green glow of chakra filled the room before she placed her hand against the child's forehead. The little boy's forehead was beaded in small droplets of sweat and as the chakra began its healing process of his brain, the sweat receded. Opening his tired eyes, the boy first focused on the glow of chakra against his forehead.

Noticing the patient's improvement, Sakura removed her hand and crouched down at eye level to watch him closer. Sakura usually did not take things personally, but seeing this child suffer drove a dagger through her heart.

What kind of monster would harm a child like this?

Still crouching, Sakura grabbed the stuffed toy from the bedside table to comfort the child.

Meanwhile, Sakura did not notice that Ino was already working on the second child on the other side of the room. Getting up, Sakura moved towards the second patient and crossed her arms expectantly as she waited for something to happen.

After some time, Ino straightened up and the green glow on her hands receded. There was no response. Not wanting to disturb the first child who was still recovering, both women stepped out into the corridor.

"It might take a few more sessions before we get any response from the second patient," Ino suggested. She seemed worn out as well from seeing a child suffer like this.

Back at Ino's office, both women sunk into their chairs with a heavy sigh. The chakra control required to treat mental imbalances always took a higher degree of concentration and energy.

"Are you meeting Sai tonight?" Sakura broke the silence, "we should grab some dinner...tomorrow is finally our day off."

"Sorry, I am really tired. Let's figure something out for tomorrow," Ino replied as she got up to gather her belongings and leave, "We could all go to the hot springs."

"That would be a great idea, let me know tomorrow."

"Later."

Looking straight up into the ceiling Sakura wondered what she would do now.

Dinner by myself it is!

* * *

Walking through the streets of Konoha always gave Sakura a nostalgic feeling. The warm lights from the small bars and yakinikus were always inviting. The steam from the different shops offered varied aromas for the passersby.

Passing by one of the small restaurants, Sakura could see two pairs of legs hanging from its stools and some rowdy familiar voices coming from inside.

"That was some good training we had today, eh Sasuke."

"Hn, you're out of shape loser."

"Well..! Well! That's because I keep getting sent on boring missions and then I miss out on training!" Naruto yelled back holding a fist at Sasuke.

"Hello, you two!", Sakura popped her head inside the restaurant between the two, "May I join you both for dinner?"

With a large smile Naruto replied, "Of course Sakura sit with us!"

For a split second, Sakura stood there...who would she sit beside of? Naruto or Sasuke..? They were occupying the two center seats of the joint, and there were only spare empty seats beside them. Sakura did not want to seem desperate to get Sasuke's attention by sitting beside him. If anything, she wanted to give him space. She had been chasing him her whole life. If he wanted to be with her he'd better make the effort too. Also, Sakura felt more comfortable being around Naruto – they were just like brother and sister.

Grabbing the empty seat beside Naruto, Sakura made her order right away, "Can I get a miso ramen, extra pork, no menma, extra green onions!"

"Sure thing," Teuchi replied behind the counter.

"This is quite a sight to see, I haven't seen you three together in forever!" Ayame peeked over her father's shoulder at the three silent shinobi.

As Sakura turned her head to look at Naruto and Sasuke, she could tell both had fallen silent. In a split second, Sasuke's eye shot up and met hers, and quickly looked away. What are they planning? Sakura pondered as she narrowed her eyes.

"There you go, three miso ramens, two with extra pork, one with naruto fishcakes, one with extra green onions," Teuchi broke the silence as he placed the three large bowls in front of his customers.

The three friends sat there silently started eating.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh this is soooo good!" Naruto gave one final slurp of his broth, "So you two, when are you going to start going out?"

Spitting her tea out, Sakura replied, "Don't be silly, Naruto," as she grabbed a napkin to dab the tea drops from the counter.

Beside Naruto, Sasuke was brooding and silent - hiding behind the shadow of his own hair.

Nervously looking back and forth Naruto said, "What? Did I say something wrong?" he obviously felt embarrassed for being so forthcoming - he knew he had hit a sensitive spot between the two.

In a swift movement, Sasuke slammed enough money on the counter to cover all three meals, "I am leaving."

Sakura didn't look over her shoulder as Sasuke left, and Naruto sat there without any reaction. Sakura felt irritated because for some reason, whatever was irritating Sasuke was irritating her as well. All she could do at this point is give him the space he desired - she was definitely not going to chase him.

Sakura slowly got up from her seat and apologized, "Sorry Naruto, I am calling it a night... I better go."


	6. Teamwork

**6: Teamwork**

Irritated, Sakura left before she could snap at Naruto. She felt bad for leaving him so suddenly – it was rude after all.

Sakura wanted to know what was going on with Sasuke this time around. He had been acting strange the whole evening and kept quiet the whole time. She knew he had several things that were currently worrying him, but he needed to take a break from it all... eventually.

* * *

On her first day off in a long time, Sakura decided to catch up on her training at the training grounds – she had become quite weak in terms of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Also, she knew she would eventually bump into Naruto and Sasuke since they had been constantly training. Sakura knew that it was important to have a balance between work and pleasure and yet, she had barely enjoyed herself lately. Regardless of war or peace times, the hospital would always be a place for the sick and dying, and the children from the mental hospital she helped run, would always need psychological support for their own traumas.

Just like Sakura, Naruto's abilities had also suffered from the enduring peace they were under. It always seemed that peaceful periods forced ninjas to live a complacent life. However, not everyone boasted from enduring peace. The conflicts that plagued the smaller villages still continued to claim lives. Sakura had to continue being strong – not only for herself but for those she loved as well.

Sakura walked into the first empty training ground available and decided to do some target practice followed by some chakra focus exercises. The training ground was lined with trees and areas where ninjas could target practice. She took the advantage of the trees so she could place a target in a blind spot.

She ran to get momentum and quickly jumped into the air with a twist, throwing two kunais towards their targets. Two of them did hit the spot right at the center, and the last two kunais she threw hit each other in order to hit the blind spot.

The shuriken training was no different. The idea was that she needed to toss them in a way that would defy gravity. In order to do that, she'd have to carefully plan how each needed to be tossed in order to reach their targets. She instinctively counted the distance, strength, and angle necessary to hit all targets. Once again, all targets were hit dead center.

After a few hours of training, she felt satisfied. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her black glove and gathered all the scattered weapons she left lying around.

At the edge of the training grounds she decided to smash the ground using her chakra control. In a way it was more of a cathartic exercise than a chakra exercise – she needed to let her stress fade away along with the boulders. The blue chakra that gathered in her hands would make her fist get warmer the longer she'd let the chakra build up. The hotter it would get, the stronger her punches could get. At one particular point her hand got so hot she felt like she could have melted her own gloves.

She felt like she was almost out of chakra but she kept going out of frustration. Her stamina did indeed decrease with the lack of training - no wonder she had to switch more often with Shizune during surgeries. As the chakra carefully gathered in her right fist for one last punch, it felt like she placed it in a pot of scalding hot water. Numbed by her anger and frustration, she let it build more and more. When she felt like her nerves were about to be destroyed by the amount of chakra gathered, she released it onto the ground. The shockwave sent by her punch sent the earth into a violent convulsion. The netted veins that were created on the ground reminded Sakura of a giant leaf. Jumping outwards in order to avoid the failing ground, she landed in an area of the field that was not as damaged as the other areas.

After a few hours the sun was hitting dead center and Sakura heard the other nearby training grounds around her become more lively. She had almost destroyed the training ground she was in, so much so that if she even tried throwing another punch it would probably affect the other training grounds as well.

With her energy spent, Sakura started to wobble and her lips and ears began to tingle. It had been a long time since she willingly spent a large amount of chakra. Sakura knew well what caused her symptoms. Most likely she had hypoglycemia she thought. She shouldn't have skipped breakfast...but then again somebody did steal her food pills along with the nutrition they provided.

"Oi, Sakura-Chan!"

Crouching down, Sakura placed her right hand on the ground and slowly sunk back into the grass field. Her face was completely tingly, along with her toes and fingertips. She felt like she was going to pass out as her head spun in circles. Hearing footsteps nearby, Sakura rolled on her side and reached into her back pouch and hoped to find a food pill. Instead she only found a small sugar cube in her pouch from a previous mission. With her head against the grass blades she closed her eyes and slowly let the sugar dissolve in her mouth. As she tasted the sweetness she slowly started her regain her senses, and as she opened her eyes Naruto and Sasuke were standing above her watching in concern.

"Sakura, are you ok?" Sasuke asked as he offered her a hand.

As she took Sasuke's hand, she stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow, "Thanks."

They seem to be back to normal again, she thought.

"Hn"

"Sakura-Chan, you destroyed the whole training ground!" Naruto exclaimed, completely absorbed by the training ground instead of her condition.

"Don't worry Naruto - the Jounins who control Earth Style and Mud Style, always fix these training grounds weekly," Sakura crossed her arms while trying to explain everything clearly, "how do you think the training grounds always look so neat?"

"Eh? You have a point."

"You have never noticed this, have you? Do you just think everything always went magically back into place?"

Naruto placed his arms behind his head and laughed nervously, "Eh heh heh..."

Sasuke noticed her pale appearance and started fumbling with the pouch he carried around his waist. "Here," Sasuke said, offering a dark round sphere to Sakura.

Hesitating, Sakura slowly took the small sphere in her hands and stared intently at it. She shouldn't have been so careless with her diet after all – she lost quite a bit of muscle and weight because of her crazy schedule. There was little to no time to properly eat sometimes, and the chakra expenditure sometimes left her drained at the end of the day. There were several times when she'd get home, and after a quick shower she'd just toss herself in bed – exhausted. As the weeks turned into months, she eventually forgot about herself and just carried on with her routine. She did wish Sasuke was back home... even though she wanted to be supportive of his journey. The only way she could carry on from missing him so much was to drown herself in her work. As her mental focus came back to the pill itself, she quickly figured who had fixed the mess in her house and also found the food pill thief. She wasn't mad at Sasuke for taking her food pills – he probably needed them for his own training, and a long term food pill diet was not remotely healthy for her anyway.

She quickly felt her senses go back to normal after she took a bite of the food pill. The slight tingling she still felt on her face and fingertips faded away and the warmth on her cheeks returned.

From the other side of the field, the trio heard a girl beckoning them to run, "Run, quick!"

"Eh? Who is that?" Naruto inquired as he squinted his eyes trying to make out the commotion, "is that Tenten?"

Tenten quickly ran towards them but a cloud also followed her at an incredible speed. As Tenten reached the trio, the figure that followed her was dangerously close. As they braced themselves to whatever it was, they noticed it was Lee running with his eyes half shut and while his face looked quite red.

Konoha Senpuu!

The attack first was aimed at Naruto, who was not quite ready to defend, given the surprise factor brought in by Lee. The attack hit Naruto's cheek mercilessly and Naruto flew outwards into a pond nearby. Meanwhile, Tenten hid behind Sakura and Sasuke.

"We should get out of here!" Tenten repeated herself, "Lee is acting strange, he's not acting like himself at all...it's like he's drunk...but worse."

"What happened?" Sakura inquired, "what made Lee this way?"

"Like I know!", Tenten retorted, "We were training, and he ate something strange saying it was supposed to help his training or something...He obviously shouldn't have eaten whatever he ate!"

"If you're not coming to me, I'll go to you!" Lee started sprinting their way.

"Guys we are in trouble," Tenten yelled at the couple standing in front of her. Naruto was still recovering from the first kick he got.

"It's your fault," Lee yelled at the trio while he prepared a new attack. Mid-sprint, Lee tripped on a rock and fell face first on the rocky terrain created by Sakura.

"Judging by the color of his skin, his pulse, and his temperature...Lee is drunk," Sakura announced.

Sasuke shot her a side glance and looked back at Lee, "How do we stop him?"

"We don't. We can't," Sakura replied, "we have to tire him out until the effects wear out. It would also help knowing what he ate exactly, so we could find out how long it will last for."

"I'm enjoying my youth! I'm in the prime of my life," he yelled from the ground still. As he got up with flimsy movements, Lee started dashing towards Sakura, Sasuke, and Tenten.

Unsure on how to counteract Lee's movements, Sasuke tried activating his Sharingan. Reading Lee's movements should've been easy. Except...that Lee was so far gone that his muscle twitches betrayed not only Lee but also Sasuke. As Lee aimed his next attack towards Sasuke, Sakura and Tenten jumped out of the way. With his fist clenched, he was about to punch Sasuke who reacted accordingly in order to block. Lee was faster than ever, and in no way would Sasuke be able to hit him or block his attacks. As Lee's fist almost made contact against Sasuke's block, Lee crouched down and with a quick swing of his own leg tripped Sasuke on the faulty ground. "Tch," came out of Sasuke's mouth as he hit the ground - Lee had no attack pattern whatsoever. What looked like was a punch, suddenly became a kick or vice versa. Somehow, Lee had found the most effective way to counteract a Sharingan.

Tenten felt powerless against stopping her teammate. Her specialty was weapons after all, and her taijutsu and speed were obviously no match to Lee's youthful perseverance. Turning around she yelled back, "I will run back to the village and get help! Please take care of Lee, don't hurt him. It's not his fault."

"Right," Sakura replied, as she saw Tenten run to the edge of the field.

Through the broken cracks and crevices, Lee leaped and tripped through several of them.

"Get ready he's coming," Sasuke shouted back at Sakura.

Meanwhile, Naruto got his bearings once again and ran back to the duo, while Lee was approaching them for another attack.

Noticing Naruto arrive, Lee focused on him instead, "The power of youth is beautiful, don't ru- ruin it!"

Leaping through the air, Lee flipped and somersaulted towards Naruto, and in a split second performed another somersault behind Sakura.

Rotating his fist, Lee prepared a powerful shot to attack Sakura with while Naruto and Sasuke positioned themselves to act accordingly, unsure of what his next attack was going to be.

With enough strength this time, Lee did not change his attack pattern and launched a punch towards Sakura. Bringing her arms up at the last second, Sakura managed to defend herself. Flying backwards at great speed, Sakura was caught by Sasuke as he suddenly appeared behind her - one of his Rinnegan abilities to instantly switch places with objects or people. The force of the kick made both of them land harshly on the training grounds.

"Sakura, Sasuke," Naruto closed in on the distance.

Back on their feet, Sakura and Sasuke got ready for the next onslaught of attacks.

"Arrgh," Sakura gripped her left arm tightly – the hit had damaged her more than she had initially thought.

Noticing his wounded teammate Sasuke said, "I'll defend, you can heal the wound," as he positioned himself between the rampaging drunk and Sakura.

"Yeah..." she shot back a gentle smile.

With green chakra in her palms Sakura started healing the initial damage caused by Lee. Naruto and Sasuke had been lucky that they had not been hit as hard as she was. A few seconds into treating her wounds, Lee leaped and tripped on his own foot as he landed again.

Tired of getting beaten, Naruto yelled out.

Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

The whole field was instantaneously filled with shadow clones. These would probably help them buy time until they either got help or Lee metabolized whatever he had eaten.

"OI Naruto," Shikamaru yelled out as he came in running from the edge of the field along with Ino, Chouji and Tenten.

"Formation Ino-Chika-Cho," Ino yelled out while pulling on Chouji to step forward.

As Naruto's clones kept Lee busy, Chouji expanded his body into a rolling ball and rolled forward in the direction Lee was in. The ball destroyed several clones along the way.

Shikamaru stepped into position with his Shadow Bind Technique, "Whatever happens, we can't let Lee open his Gates. It would probably help him burn out whatever he is on – but it could probably hurt us in the process."

Still applying healing chakra on her arm, Sakura replied, "Tell me about it," as she and Sasuke approached the newcomers.

Lee's incessant training did show that he was above all the others in terms of speed and taijutsu. Wobbling out of the way, Lee expertly dodged Chouji's meat tank repeatedly. It did not seem like Lee was exercising any effort in dodging the attacks aimed at him. Meanwhile, several of Naruto's clones leaped at Lee while Chouji redirected his attack.

With another spinning kick, the clones flew out and vanished in a prolonged cloud of smoke.

As Chouji and Naruto continued distracting Lee – Sakura and Sasuke continued watching the situation unfold...hoping for an opening to jump into action again.

Crouching down, Ino and Shikamaru took a position closer to Lee without attracting his attention.

"Alright, set, start!" Shikamaru called in the starting shots to their combo.

A dark shadow below him sprung to life and stretched across the field towards Lee. The shadow crept over the cracks and crevices of the field, quickly gaining in on the target. Noticing the unusual shadow, Lee leaped upwards to avoid it. Stopping her own treatment, Sakura went around and quickly closed in on Lee by taking advantage of his blind spot the moment he leaped upwards to avoid the shadow. Without the need to infuse her fists with chakra, Sakura punched Lee square in the face. The force in which she punched threw Lee back towards the shadow that he was trying to avoid.

"Ino now!" Shikamaru ordered.

"Right!"

Shintenshin no Jutsu

When the attack hit the intended target, both Lee and Ino became immobile. Knowing his cue, Shikamaru grabbed Ino before she could hit the ground.

"Now! Tie him up," Ino said while she took control of Lee's body. "Hurry I can barely focus, I don't know what he took!"

Jumping into action, Tenten pulled out ropes and chains out of her scrolls and tied Lee with an expert proficiency, "There."

Releasing the jutsu, Ino went back to her own body, "Good job, everyone."

As the rest of the group gathered around Lee, Sakura decided to inspect Lee's pouch and Sasuke and Naruto followed right behind her. Whatever enhancement he took caused everyone so much trouble.

"EH?" realizing that Sasuke was amongst them, Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru exclaimed in unison, "You're back!?"

Ignoring the new surprised outburst, Sasuke maintained his attention on Sakura and whatever she was inspecting inside Lee's pouch.

"I think this is the culprit," Sakura announced pulling out some fragments of whatever was left over inside and inspecting the crumbs in her hands, "We use these in the hospital. They are special food pills because they have alcohol as one of their active ingredients. These pills allow patients to feel hungry so they can consume more calories, and also treat some other specific illnesses. Lee must've gotten them when he came in with Gai a few days ago."

"Typical," Tenten replied, "it is not the first time he takes some weird substance - except that the previous times it didn't last as long."

"Ugh where am I?" the ninja clad in green whispered through his bindings. He seemed to be regaining consciousness.

"Lee you're such an idiot! You almost killed us!" Tenten yelled at him. As she took her time to explain to him what had happened and unbind him from the chains and ropes she had brought out, the other ninjas decided to sit down and rest.

"Hey Sakura," Ino beckoned her over and whispered, "how was the reunion? I didn't know he was back. He seems a bit cold towards you."

Sakura whispered back, "Oh, it's only when he's in public. He is definitely different when it's just us together - "

"How is your arm Sakura," Lee approached Sakura with an apologetic look, "I am sorry, I was unaware of what was happening."

"Don't worry Lee, it's nothing. It's almost healed. See - " Sakura pulled out her bruised arm out as she restarted the healing process, "it looks worse than it is, I swear."

Tearing up, Lee cried out, "Everyone, please let me repay for all the troubles you've been through!"

Throwing an arm behind Lee, Naruto opened and wide smile and said, "What do you have in mind Bushybrows?"

"Le- let me treat you all to anything you want!"

"Lee, isn't this going to be expensive for you?" Sakura looked concerned.

"All-You-Can-Eat BBQ!" Chouji was the first one to reply.

"The new bath house!" Ino suggested.

"The Dango Shop," Sakura proposed a cheap alternative.

"Ramen! Ramen!" Naruto said, "it's past lunch time! I am starving."

"Tch, troublesome," Shikamaru said while lighting the cigarette he got from his pocket, "we will never decide on anything like this. Here - ", pulling several blades of grass from the ground, "it's simple. Whoever has the one blade of grass with the dried end chooses. There are eight here– seven are completely green, here everyone picks one."

Sakura, Ino, Chouji, and Naruto were the first ones to simultaneously grab a blade of grass from Shikamaru's closed fist, as he walked past them to allow everyone the same chance at winning.

"Ah, damn," Ino was the first one to exclaim, "mine is completely green."

"Mine too," Sakura replied as she inspected the blade of grass between her thumb and index fingers, "how about you Naruto, Chouji?"

"Heh heh! I got it," Naruto proudly showed his blade of grass up, "I WIN I WIN."

Sakura beamed at Naruto, "Good job Naruto!"

"Loser, I am the one who got it," Sasuke looked up at Naruto with a sly smirk.

"EH?!" Naruto hid his winning hand immediately, "well then you won Sasuke, what do you want to do?"

"Hn, nothing. You guys are too loud," he replied as he turned away from the group and tossed the blade of grass over his head.

With an evil smirk, Naruto launched himself at his best friend, "Oh no you're not running away."

In a cloud of smoke the two men wrestled, "Get off me loser," "Idiot why didn't you let me win then," "Shut it I've been eating Ramen every day because of you," "I don't see a problem with it," "I do - you loser."

"They don't change do they," Ino beckoned Sakura over.

"Puff puff," Naruto coughed while he and Sasuke decided to stop fighting.

Patting the dust off his clothes and his hair, Sasuke resigned to peer pressure – he had won the game after all. Even though he didn't care what the others in the group thought of him, he still weighed in the fact that it would be more annoying to deal with having an idea rejected by the majority. Sasuke's idea of fun was mostly spending time by himself and not bothering with anyone else's presence.

What would Sasuke suggest that the group would even remotely accept it? Ramen was out of the question – he had gone way too many times with Naruto ever since he came back. He particularly was not into sweets like Sakura suggested, and eating All-You-Can eat BBQ like a pig grossed him out. Going to a bathhouse like Ino recommended was also out of the question – hanging around a bunch of naked men wasn't his thing. If he was going to enjoy a bath, he might as well have gone on his own. There must have been a something that nobody has enjoyed or done in a large group before. Still thinking hard, he muttered an idea under his breath and then backed down.

Meanwhile, the group watched Sasuke intently, waiting for him to decide on something. With a small tug on his long sleeve shirt Sakura made eye contact with Sasuke and nodded daintily – she was going to rescue him again.

"Sakura decides," he announced stepping back.

"It's reunion time," Sakura smiled happily, "my house, at 7 – Potluck."

As the plans had finally been made, everybody quickly dispersed as Sakura and Sasuke sat down facing the destroyed field. It was just past noon and the weather was warm with a light cool breeze.

Even though he did not really care about spending time with anybody else, it just felt right being around Sakura. He could not pinpoint exactly what made him feel this way – they did not have any need to be constantly talking to each other.

Sasuke was the first to break the silence, "Thanks."

Smiling to herself she replied, "We should get going, I have to do some cleaning and cooking. Do... you want to come over?"

"Ah," he replied with a gentle smile, "Let's go."


	7. Like Old Times Again

**7: Like Old Times Again**

The sun was still high in the sky when Sasuke and Sakura headed towards the village. Keeping a slight distance from each other, neither of them wanted to break the comfortable silence that only echoed their footsteps. A faint green light could be seen from quite a distance, and it emanated from Sakura's right hand into her bruised arm - she had not finished healing herself.

Sakura held her arms in front of her, while keeping her head down - her face slightly burning from nervousness, while her heartbeat slowly increased. She definitely did not want to show Sasuke how nervous she actually was to be near him. He had finally come back home... back to her.

Even though she had always been sure of her love for him, he shunned her away due to his own motives - yet he was now finally letting her in. The idea in itself made her nervous. The sudden change in his behavior ever since he fought Naruto, was extremely evident. The dark veil that seemed to cloud Sasuke's features was long gone. His features were no longer pained by the uncertainty of the future, and his drive to kill his older brother. He did not need to make another painful choice again. The man that walked right beside her, reminded Sakura of Sasuke's better days - the ones before his family got murdered: A carefree and serious boy who just wanted to train to impress his family. Despite not knowing what Sasuke's new motives in life were, Sakura knew that protecting the Hidden Village also meant protecting Itachi's ideals.

As they arrived at her doorstep, Sakura stopped healing her arm and reached inside her pouch with her good arm. Behind her, Sasuke stood silently waiting while she produced a key and opened the door.

While Sakura took her shoes off in front of the door, she apologized, "Sorry, Sasuke - things are a bit messier than last time you were here. I had to do some studying on a new procedure."

In a silent nod, he acknowledged her apology while glancing over to the dining table - it was piled high with books in a jargon that he did not remotely understand.

Why am I so nervous, she thought. There must be something that Sakura could do to calm her nerves, while she got accustomed to Sasuke's presence in her house.

"Hey Sakura," Sasuke broke the awkward silence by rousing her out of her thoughts, "Could I shower here?" When a leaf dislodged from his head and neatly fell on the hardwood floor.

Sakura had finally taken a good look at Sasuke. His clothes were completely dirty and his hair was disheveled. She was not in a better shape either - her clothes were quite dirty and her hair was in the same state.

"Alright!" she cheerfully said doubling back to her room. In a split second, she surfaced and handed him a fresh towel, "Make yourself at home."

Looking down to the bright pink towel he had just been handed, he initially said nothing in reply. After several seconds of contemplative silence he decided to speak up, "Do...you have any different colors?"

"Eh? Colors? No sorry," Sakura replied with a smirk while stacking her books in a corner of the living room, "If you don't like it…you don't need to use it."

With a short resigned grunt, he turned around and locked himself in the washroom. Sakura's washroom was quite different from the rest of her house - everything was scented and carefully thought out... Something he didn't really notice the first night he had come over to her house and fixed the mess she had made before she passed out. At that moment Sasuke realized he might've made a mistake in asking to shower at Sakura's house. He would have to use her soap and shampoo - which would obviously leave a scent behind. When they were genin still, Sasuke and Naruto would always borrow some of Sakura's shampoo because they would often forget to bring it on a mission. Now, it would be quite questionable if anyone noticed that he showered at her house. The questions that it would raise amongst everyone else was something that he could not fathom and would be quite irritating.

Hopefully no one will notice this, he thought feeling embarrassed.

Meanwhile, Sakura was quickly putting things in place and cleaning around the house. She could hear the water running from the washroom for a considerable amount of time. Was Sasuke ok? As her mind finally wandered to him she furiously blushed - he was THERE, NAKED in her HOUSE! Why would she even be remotely nervous at that? It was not the first time he was naked within 10 meters of her. They had gone in missions together when they were younger. They had spent the night at Inns and had also slept a few meters from each other...This time, she thought, is different. We are adults.

Shaking her head a couple of times so she could erase the thoughts, she gave herself a slap on each cheek to try and forget about the unusual guest at her house.

Still in her dirty clothes, she went to her kitchen to wash the rice for the dinner, and leave it soaking for a while before she could cook it. She had decided to make onigiris - they were quick and easy enough, and she still had some dry ingredients in her pantry that were edible.

Distracted while she was in the kitchen, Sakura instinctively started removing her clothes down to her underwear. Something in her shirt had been poking her for a while and she did not know what - a twig or a splinter maybe. Thinking she would just head to the washroom right after removing her clothes - she had done this routine several times: left the rice soaking while she took a shower. By the time she would be done her shower, the rice would be ready to be cooked. Ideally, it would have to be soaking overnight. "Eh it should be alright", she thought out loud.

Conveniently, the bathroom faced the kitchen area, and Sakura could realistically leave the rice cooking while she was in the shower - which was not the case in this situation.

The faint sound of a door opening startled her and she remembered that Sasuke was still in her house. The steam began pouring out of the washroom and out came Sasuke, with just a pink towel wrapped around his waist. He didn't seem worried or bothered by the way he looked in front of her. It was nothing new for him - he was only wearing a towel when long ago Karin sneaked into the men's onsen when they were still in Team Taka. Despite being a very private person about his emotions, he was quite comfortable in his skin.

Sakura definitely didn't feel the same way and she fell backwards in surprise, while her clothes scattered around her.

"Sakura," Sasuke said with a hand on his hip.

"Wh-what?"

Noticing her reaction and her attire, he tried to look away while he stumbled on his syllables, "D-Do you have any fresh clothes?" A subtle blush began to creep over his face the moment he tried to make eye contact a second time. There was no point in running into the bathroom again, the last thing he needed was to give Sakura a peep show.

"Ah-um yes!" she gathered the clothes in front of her and held it flush against her skin. For the first time ever she thought how useful it would have been if she wore a skirt as long as Ino's.

Sasuke remained silent and looked away so that the moment would not get any more awkward between them.

The moment Sakura got up, she hurried back to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. After a few seconds, the door opened and only her hand was visible with a familiar white shirt and pants - the ones from the hospital. Sasuke defiantly accepted the weird choice of attire without voicing his thoughts.

They were definitely not the most appealing clothes, but at this point he really thought of how he should have gone home right after the training grounds. He was taken by surprise when Sakura invited him over and did not want to be rude once he accepted her invite. The deal was done and over with - he was clean now, but he smelled like Sakura and he would also be wearing the spare white scrubs she had from the hospital.

"Alright look away!" she shouted from her bedroom, "No peeking."

Still in his towel and holding the fresh scrubs he was handed, Sasuke looked away with a slight twitch in his eye and his mouth pressed into a thin line, while Sakura got out of her room and went into the washroom. The last thing he needed was to get murdered in a place like this. Once he heard the bathroom door click shut, he heaved a defeated sigh and decided to put on the clothes in Sakura's room - just in case she had to step out from the washroom for whatever reason. Nothing has changed about her room - it still felt like a dangerous territory that he should not linger in. Just like the first time, he wanted to spend the least amount of time in her room - just long enough to get changed without having the risk of Sakura surprising him.

He quickly got dressed in an anticipation that she would come barging into her room at any second. It had only been a short amount of time since she had gone in, and yet it still felt like forever. Haphazardly, he towel dried his damp hair and tried to smooth it back into the way he was accustomed to.

Sasuke carefully made sure that nothing was out of place when he left her bedroom and decided to wait in the living room. Sitting on the couch, he tried to distract himself by going through Sakura's reading material. He did not like the way the scrubs felt at all - even though they were made of cotton, they were a bit too tight for him...it accentuated everything he did not want to be evidenced.

After the water stopped running, it only took a couple of minutes before Sakura stepped out of the washroom fully clothed in a navy skirt and a red shirt with white short sleeves. He had never seen Sakura wear this - perhaps it was what she would wear when she wasn't working or training. It accentuated her...well. Feeling a slight rushing sensation and unwilling to get up from the couch, Sasuke pulled a pillow over his lap - he hated that embarrassing outfit.

With the dirty clothes in her hand, she picked up the neat pile he left of his clothes as well, and headed out to the small deck she had outside with a small washing machine, "The weather is quite dry - these will be ready to wear before everybody gets here don't worry."

"Hn," he grunted back in reply.

As the washing machine began the cycle, Sasuke wanted to distract Sakura into a conversation until he could get his clothes back - it was imperative that he did not get up unless it was to wear his own clothes.

Walking back to the living room, Sakura sat across Sasuke.

"Um," Sakura began with uncertainty, "Sorry about what happened here...before - I got distracted and I don't ever have visitors. I - I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

Before she could continue, Sasuke closed his eyes so he could repress the vivid image of Sakura looking up at him surprised, "It is fine Sakura, it is my fault - I spent too many years in the Sound Village. There were underground caves with fresh water - where anyone could access it."

Sakura could quickly draw a mental picture of Sasuke having little to no privacy during the years he spent with Orochimaru - that name even brought a bad taste in her mouth. Being under constant supervision meant that Sasuke was always surrounded by people - the group she had seen with Sasuke several times, which included Karin - the woman she had saved from certain death.

In a sudden wave of sadness, Sakura felt bad for everything Sasuke had to go through - she had told him many times already that if she could, she would be more than willing to take on his pain.

Across Sakura, Sasuke observed all the emotions that crossed her face as he mentioned the Sound Village. In hindsight, he knew he had committed the worst mistake of his life by leaving the village. However, he felt that he would have probably gone down the same path again if he needed the strength and power - a slight nod towards Indra's legacy.

"Sasuke, do you want some tea?" Sakura interrupted his thoughts.

* * *

Before 7 came around, Sakura was able to give Sasuke back his clothes - they smelt odd... of a floral laundry detergent...unlike the neutral kind he would use back at home or wash his clothes in a stream during his travels.

Sakura's house had been fairly cleaned, including her room, and the onigiris she made were sitting on the counter. She figured that two flavors for onigiri would suffice: one with pickled plums and another with bonito flakes. During the time he was waiting for his black ensemble to dry, he quietly watched Sakura go around the house. Out of respect, he initially offered to help her, but she refused - either way he was too embarrassed to get up anyway.

With a loud knock, the first guest had finally arrived.

Taking two steps from the kitchen, Sakura let Naruto and Hinata in, "Good evening you two," Sakura said.

"Good evening," said Hinata smiling as she handed Sakura a dish before Naruto even said a word.

"Yo! Sakura," Naruto greeted his old teammate with the same energy as always, while he peeked towards the living room, "OI! You're already here you bastard," Naruto yelled at the quiet dark figure brooding on the couch. "Hey, I'm talking to you," Naruto gave the figure a light shoulder punch with his left fist.

Meanwhile, the next few guests showed up at the door: Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, and Temari. All of them had brought varied dishes and handed to Sakura to put on the dining table.

Immobile, Sasuke was still brooding hoping Naruto would go away. The last thing he needed was for Naruto to announce to everybody that he had been there the whole afternoon. Sitting beside Sasuke on the couch, and taking in a strong whiff Naruto began, "Hey Sasuke..." with a slight pause, "you smell strange...like girl's shampoo and your clothes smell different."

Hiding a creeping blush on his face, his worst fears were confirmed, "Shut up Naruto", Sasuke mumbled back as he looked away trying to ignore Naruto's questioning.

"What I can't hear you, what'd you say?"

Watching from the kitchen, Sakura, Ino, Temari asked Hinata caught on what the conversation was all about. "Is he always thick like this," Ino inquired. Putting her head down, Sakura understood why Sasuke was acting weird after the shower. He was smelling like her shampoo now, and his clothes had been freshly washed with her floral detergent.

"Um- sometimes haha," Hinata gave a nervous laugh. In the meantime, Sai and Shikamaru just stood in silence beside each other. They had both understood what must have happened - Sasuke had just spent the entire afternoon at Sakura's and also showered there… it had a lot of implications - and they were all quite immature to deal with it.

As the attention continued on Sasuke and Naruto's tiresome questioning, Sakura set the table with all the dishes and drinks that had been brought by everyone. There were not enough seats around the dinner table for everyone - so as a courtesy the women sat together around the dinner table, and the men sat on the floor around the coffee table and the sofa. There was plenty of food to go around several days for all of them.

"Um, isn't Lee supposed to come?" Hinata inquired to Sakura, "Wasn't it his initial idea to do get altogether?"

"Yes, it was," Sakura said absentmindedly, "He is usually late because he trains so late."

As Sakura took another bite of the delicious soba noodles, a courteous knock was heard. "See, speaking of the devil," as she got up to open the door.

Kiba, Shino, Chouji, and Tenten showed up at the door, "Yo!" one of them greeted before walking in, "Let's make this reunion fun, we brought some sake."

"Oh no no no not again!" Sakura said, "We already had our hands full this morning with Lee."

"Don't worry Sakura" Kiba replied, "This stuff is weak," he said as he placed bags of liquor on the kitchen counter.

"That's why we have a doctor amongst us!" Tenten beamed, "Sakura you're one of the best," she ended with a victory sign.

"Ugh," was all Sakura could reply defeated.

On the other side of the living room, the men sitting around the coffee table were playing cards that Shikamaru had brought with him.

"The food looks delicious," Chouji beamed at the great variety in front of him, "I'll try a bit of everything."

"Alright alright," Kiba interrupted the game by handing everyone a drink, "here have some."

As the party went on and the food was nearly all eaten, a final knock was heard on the door was heard. Getting up from her seat, Sakura felt the initial rush going to her head. She had never considered drinking before, even though her Master, Tsunade had tried offering her sake many times. Trying to walk straight towards the door, Sakura managed to brace herself by keeping a steady hand against the wall. "Oh, hey Lee, you're late!" Sakura exclaimed, "the party is half over."

"YAAA I WIN!" Naruto swung his arms up and could be heard from the other side of the living room.

"Again," Shikamaru insisted while reshuffling the deck.

"You better not have any cards up your sleeves Naruto," Sai pointed out suspiciously while taking a sip of his beer, "last time we played you cheated."

"Not surprised", Sasuke smirked, "you hate to lose."

On the other side of the living room, the women had decided to update each other on their gossip rather than consistently pay with the extra deck of cards they had been given. "I can't believe that's what happened," one of them could be heard saying. "I think it's damn funny," another one intermittently added.

Ignoring the obvious gossip that was happening on the dining table, the men continued on with their card game and drinks.

* * *

After a few hours of eating and drinking, it was nearly 1 a.m, and the first guests had decided to leave.

"Hey Sai," Ino interrupted an ongoing game, "I have a mission tomorrow, I have to go."

Without blinking, Sai lowered his cards and replied, "I'll walk you home," turning towards the remaining men around the coffee table he said, "Til' next time."

Thanking Sakura for hosting the get-together, they both left hand in hand.

"Shikamaru let's go too," Temari said, "Thanks everyone for the get-together."

Lee, Shino, Chouji, Sasuke, and Naruto were still in the fever of the moment, drinking, and playing cards. As the casual conversation became louder, their faces were beginning to get red from the alcohol that they were consuming.

"I should get going soon as well", Tenten told her friends as she got up from the dinner table. As a cue, both Hinata and Sakura got up as well.

"We'll walk you home!" Sakura chimed in.

Not that Tenten remotely needed any escorts home, but solidarity and friendship had been flourishing for many years between the women.

* * *

After the late night walk, Hinata and Sakura found out that the party had been over for some time already. For some reason, Lee, Shino, and Chouji were nowhere to be found. The food had been completely eaten, and the rest of the drinks had been completely drunk. Naruto and Sasuke, on the other hand, were passed out on the floor with the cards still in their hands.

Carefully removing her shoes before entering Sakura's house, Hinata silently closed in on her husband and scooped him up on her shoulder. It was quite a weird sight to see since Naruto had grown exponentially when compared to Hinata. Nevertheless, Hinata showed no signs of strain when carrying a passed out Naruto towards the door.

With one hand, Hinata was able to slip her sandals back on so that she could grab Naruto's shoes right after. Thanking Sakura with a silent and respectful bow of her head, Hinata headed home.

As she finally closed the door behind her, Sakura faced her living room. Sasuke was still there passed out with the cards in his hand, muttering something about Naruto cheating. Closing the distance between them, Sakura kneeled right beside Sasuke and tried to weigh in her options. She definitely did not know where he lived - so she could not possibly drop him home. The couch was way too small for him - just like Naruto, he had gone through a growth spurt during his absence.

Bed it is! SHANNARO

Scooping him up carefully was not an issue for Sakura since Sasuke was completely passed out. She immediately wondered what his reaction would be when he realized he woke up next to her - that is something that she had to think about later. The idea itself did make her nervous...was this even appropriate?

As Sakura placed Sasuke on her bed, she looked down at the passed out man. With a steady and shaky hand, she brushed the hair from his face and stared at him intently. His jaw was sharp and defined, his hair was longer - he was unbelievably beautiful in her eyes.

With cloudy thoughts, Sakura changed into her bed clothes and laid on her bed with a muted yawn - she was quite tired of the exertion she had to endure during training, fighting Lee, and hosting a get-together. Sasuke was still passed out and motionless, as Sakura pulled the sheets to cover herself and him. Letting out another yawn, Sakura blinked a couple of times before she let her consciousness slowly drift away.


	8. Determination

**8: Determination**

In the outskirts of Konoha, Sasuke slowly closed in on the village. First, his most recent investigation drew blanks as to who was impersonating him. The idea itself angered him greatly - he had been working hard to clear his name and reputation, and someone out there was destroying it once again. At first, he did not care about the rumors, he had bigger fish to catch. However, as the time dragged on, the reports that Kakashi sent him seemed to draw a grim picture - no one had been able to find anything. Sasuke knew that Sakura and Naruto believed in him, and defended him while he was far from home - but how long would that last?

With an ominous feeling, Sasuke decided to head back home to investigate personally. Awaiting for his hawk to send and deliver questions would take longer since he knew that the problem stemmed from Konoha itself.

From the distance, Sasuke saw a group of ANBU frantically get closer and closer. They had a strange chakra around them, which reminded Sasuke of Naruto's tailed beast chakra - what would they be doing at a time like this? It was as if they were fleeing the village. If they were truly going on missions, they would be in stealth, so they would not be seen.

Stopping to ask the group about their odd behavior, Sasuke was suddenly attacked by them. The first masked ninja threw a kunai and drew his sword, while another drew hand signs. Sasuke activated his Sharingan instantly which startled the group attacking him - they definitely did not expect to encounter a dojutsu user. Out of the fleeing group, three got caught in a genjutsu and fell flat on the ground. Jumping upwards on the treetops, Sasuke wanted to get the remainder of the group in a genjutsu so that he could understand what was going on. He had a feeling that this group had a connection to the recent events.

Katon! Hosenka no Jutsu

In a volley of small fireballs, Sasuke forced the remaining ANBU who were fleeing to avoid the treetops completely. Several of the fireballs hit the ground in random areas where it left scorch marks and even grazed one of Sasuke's enemies. Still dashing towards Sasuke, the masked members seemed to be devising an ambush against him - but they failed.

Chidori Nagashi

Drawing a large current, Sasuke forced the current around him and onto the ground. The last two ANBU who were about to retaliate against him got caught in the electrical current and were electrocuted. As the last member fell flat on the ground, Sasuke approached the one closest to him and grabbed him by the collar with violence to force eye contact - his patience was thinning. Why would the ANBU try to fight against him?

Sharingan!

In his target's mind, Sasuke saw a large amount of pills being stocked and guarded by the ANBU. His target had also experimented using the drug, and surprisingly, the other ANBU who had been electrocuted by Sasuke was the doppelganger who had been impersonating him. The moment the doppelganger tried the drug, he assumed Sasuke's appearance and chakra signature.

Feeling irked, he did not know that the next memory would drive him over the edge.

In the memory, a group of ANBU gathered around the doppelganger in a dark side street - except that something was off this time. The doppelganger was not the target...it was obviously someone else. They were waiting for something, a cue possibly since they were not talking amongst themselves. It seemed as if they had carefully planned what they were about to do. The doppelganger was on the floor and the other ANBU were restraining him. "I told you to let go!" the doppelganger roared in bitter anger. The quarreling between the doppelganger and the ANBU continued until one voice echoed down the side street that brought silence to them all.

"Sasuke?!" he heard a familiar female voice exclaim as she approached the group. Returning the doppelganger's gaze, the female lost her balance and almost fell before she quelled the disturbance the genjutsu caused in her chakra. As the female regained her composure, the ANBU quietly surrounded her as if to not let anyone see what was going on.

Sasuke's target then brought something out of his sleeve - a syringe with a dark liquid inside. He then swiftly moved behind the female without hesitation - Sasuke was now in shock from the realization of what had just happened. Instantaneously, her knees faltered and she fell face first on the hard pavement. Sasuke took a glimpse as the female fell on the ground and he recognized the hair...

He was furious. Sasuke dispelled the genjutsu he had placed the ANBU member in. He did not have any need to look into the memories of the other ones - they were probably just as guilty as the first one. Sasuke had no time to lose. His delay in returning to Konoha to investigate this issue only put Sakura in danger - she had nothing to do with this! Sasuke felt a pang of guilt course through him; he had to find out where she was being held captive.

Alarmed, Sasuke woke up with a jolt. With a huge sense of urgency, he could not move from the spot he was laying in - he was frozen from all the adrenaline that was coursing through his body. His breathing was irregular and his eyes were wide open. The first thing Sasuke's eyes focused on was a ceiling - he was no longer on the outskirts of Konoha fighting against the ANBU. The sense of urgency he felt started to wane - it was another dream induced by the memories burned on the Sharingan.

So, if he was having a recollection, where was he now - home?

A soft breathing pattern drew his attention immediately as he questioned his whereabouts. Calmly turning his head to his left, he noticed the soft ups and downs as the covered up figure with cherry blossom hair rhythmically breathed. All of a sudden, the anger that Sasuke felt stirring inside him was immediately gone the moment he saw her. Sakura had put her life on the line for him again. It seemed as if his mind wanted to remind him of what she had done.

Sakura, his mind tenderly called out her name.

How did he end up in Sakura's bedroom in the first place? Did he pass out from tiredness? All he remembered was that he was playing cards with Naruto, Chouji, Kiba, and Lee.

With a large yawn, Sakura stretched her body and slowly opened her eyes. With her sharp trained senses, she felt as if she was being watched. Turning around, her green eyes locked on the source. Sasuke was there laying beside her. Staring back at her with his dark and beautiful mismatched eyes. Speechless, Sakura could not utter a word. She wanted that moment to last a lifetime. It reminded her when she first stared deeply into his eyes. She had just saved him from one of the dimensions he was tossed in by Kaguya. Out of chakra and exhausted, she thought she had lost him again. As she began to fall backward, she was caught by Sasuke, who drew her close to him. There were no words necessary between them. Looking deeply into his eyes, Sakura felt the tenderness, feelings, and admiration he had for her.

The eyes that reflect feelings.

Yet, there were many things that were still left unanswered, despite her efforts to close the gap that was still between them. All that Sakura wanted to do was to understand who Sasuke Uchiha now was. "Sasuke?" Sakura decided to break the silence between them.

Before Sasuke could answer, a light continuous tap could be heard outside Sakura's window.

"What is that?" Sakura sounded alarmed at the interruption.

Getting up, Sasuke took the initiative to check what the light tap on the window was. Ever since he came back home, Sasuke felt worried that his presence would cause those around him more trouble. There were still many who opposed his freedom, thinking that it would be best to maintain him locked up or dead.

As he approached the window, Sasuke remembered the dream he had recollecting the events that happened not too long ago. Sakura was harmed because of him. He would not allow that to happen ever again. Trying to sense what was outside Sakura's window, his senses did not spike accordingly which meant there was no danger whatsoever outside.

Sasuke carefully opened the window in case a trap had been set outside. Slowly moving his face outside, Sasuke saw his hawk flying nearby. Perhaps a message for him…?

He signaled the halk to descend as he noticed it was still early morning. The air was crisp with cold air, and light puffs appeared as he breathed.

Sitting herself up, Sakura observed as Sasuke tended to his hawk. She wondered who would be sending a message to him at this time as she covered herself up to her chin in response to the cold air coming in.

Sasuke soothed Sakura's silent curiosity as he unfolded the little handwritten note brought in by his hawk. "Kakashi is summoning us."

"Us?" Sakura sounded alarmed.

Whatever Kakashi wanted them for must have been important, so they skipped breakfast and got ready to leave immediately

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke quietly knocked on the Hokage's door in less than half an hour after getting a message from Kakashi

"Come in," Kakashi was heard inside.

As Sakura opened the door and took half a step in, she stopped before fully entering the office. Behind her, Sasuke stopped in his tracks at Sakura's reaction.

"Ino? I thought you had a mission today," Sakura exclaimed. Looking to her left, Sakura noticed Kakashi and a third person standing tall with his hands behind his back, Ibiki Morino.

"I already completed my mission," Ino solemnly declared stepping back.

"Please you two come inside already," Kakashi ordered. "We have no time to waste at the moment."

Standing side by side, Sakura and Sasuke exchanged sideway glances. From the corner of her eye Sakura could see a faint glow of Sasuke's rinnegan behind his thick hair.

"It is quite simple," Ibiki began. "The interrogation we drew on Kido and Magire did not answer all the questions we had - we need you to interrogate them Sasuke."

"What else is there to question?" Sakura wondered. "I thought the case was closed."

"Not quite," Kakashi got up from his chair and faced the window that was previously behind him, "The idea to make the tailed beast drug did not originate from them. We have not found any labs or any trace of where they were produced. Besides, we have found conclusive proof that the assembly of the drugs had been made somewhere else with cheaper labor."

"Slave labor." Sakura finished Kakashi's sentence, "What makes you think this is the case?"

As a cue, Ino stepped forward and began, "The children that were found on the outskirts of Konoha - we have run toxicology reports on the material we found under their nails, and have found traces of drugs that we have never seen before."

"Where would they come from?" Sakura continued.

"The Land of Hot Water," Sasuke replied as he closed his eyes in contemplation. "The only pacifist country that harbors bandits, underground markets, and slave labor and does nothing about it."

"Sasuke," Ibiki called out. "We need to confirm this theory with the two prisoners, we cannot send you on a secret mission if we do not have the testimony. Despite the fact that all villages are now in peaceful terms, they would not accept us to send anyone to investigate another nation in secret. It could be bad for the peace we have already established."

"If there is someone powerful behind this," Kakashi spoke, "There is a good chance that the Village is aware of what is going on and decided to turn a blind eye."

Turning his gaze towards Ibiki, Kakashi gave him an approving nod to go ahead with the questioning. Moving from his spot and walking past Sasuke and Sakura, Ibiki did not turn around when he informed that Sasuke would come with him.

Sasuke knew what he had to do. Besides, the two prisoners that he was about to face were the ones responsible for kidnapping Sakura in the first place. He would have to hold back not to kill both of them - he already felt his blood boiling just at the thought of seeing them face to face.

Without any words, Sasuke left Sakura in the office with Kakashi and Ino and soundlessly followed Ibiki towards the prison that housed him as a prisoner for several months after the war. As Sasuke got inside the prison, the damp dark walls almost felt like he was entering Orochimaru's hideout for the first time.

The prison walls gave Sasuke a horrible feeling of nostalgia even though most memories post-war were a blur. All he remembers is that he was hurting physically and mentally. His left arm had been blown off by the final attack against Naruto. He felt pain even though his arm was no longer there.

Sakura only saw him a couple of times while he was in prison - as a doctor. She was not allowed to speak to him, and through the silence, her healing chakra soothed the pain he felt in the limb that was no longer there. He didn't have to communicate to her where his pain was. The flinch under her touch was enough to tell her where it bothered him.

He could tell that she could have examined him and healed him much faster, but he also knew that she wanted to linger in the prison cell longer than she could. She wanted to know if he was ok, and at the same time he did not want her to see him in the sorry state he was in - but he had no choice.

For an understandable reason, he knew he was being treated harsher than the other prisoners, his arms were bound, and his eyes were constantly sealed. Ibiki was not compassionate in his questioning either. If Sasuke did not speak about everything he had done up until the war, he would probably get tortured. Thankfully, Kakashi did not report what Sasuke planned to do after the war - it would have been harder to set him free if that had happened.

* * *

Ibiki knew exactly which key each lock needed without even flipping through them, and right behind Sasuke followed him.

They stopped in front of a cell where there were two figures bound - the royal treatment for the worst criminals. Clenching his fist, Sasuke closed his eyes and bit his tongue. He needed to take the concentration off his surroundings and focus on keeping his anger down. Steadying his breathing, Sasuke opened his eyes again - he had to focus on the task at hand and figure out what was going on.

Ibiki knew well that this was a hard task for Sasuke since it involved his teammate. Once he felt safe to do so, Ibiki unlocked the prison cell and stepped aside.

Feeling calmer, Sasuke stepped inside the prison cell. Both prisoners had their eyes exposed, but their arms and mouths bound. It seemed as if Ibiki had prepared them especially to get visited by Sasuke. Both prisoners were not allowed to speak to each other.

They tried to shut their eyes and turn their heads away, knowing that they were about to have all of their secrets exposed. It was futile. They could feel Sasuke's bloodlust the moment he walked in the prison; he was going to yank any available information from them.

Sasuke grabbed the first prisoner to his left, lifting him by the collar. Without any gentleness or introductions, Sasuke took the opportunity the moment the first prisoner half opened his eyes in surprise in order to activate his Sharingan.

The first victim of his Sharingan was Magire and he could tell that this prisoner was a medical ninja. Sasuke witnessed Magire fight against Ino and Sai. As Sasuke searched and flipped through his memories, Sasuke came face to face with a hooded figure. No names were exchanged. A sample was given to Magire, and Magire neatly put it away underneath his cloak pocket. In exchange, Magire handed the figure a large lump sum of money. In the hospital lab Magire played with the compound he was given, which he ultimately mixed with Naruto and Sasuke's samples that were left behind in the Valley of the End. The pill that was produced was then handed to the hooded figure which promised Magire that it would be mass produced and delivered to him in no time. As a bonus, other drugs were supplied on demand, one of which Sasuke recognized was the same one used against Sakura in his sound of her body hitting the ground played on Sasuke's mind.

With that, the memory ended. The only reference he had was that the large bulk of drugs were not produced in Konoha as everyone had originally thought. Producing such large amounts of different drugs would raise suspicion and it would be harder to keep the secret away from the Hokage. However, once produced it would be easier to store and keep it under watch by the select ANBU he trusted.

Breaking the visual link he had established, Magire immediately passed out under his hand. His eyebrows were contorted in pain while his eyes twitched in odd directions. The whole process only took a few seconds for the victim, but for Sasuke, it felt much longer.

Meanwhile, Kido observed in horror that he would be the next one to be questioned. Resigned, he left his eyes downcast without focusing on Sasuke, as Sasuke turned around in the prison cell and prepared to make eye contact with him.

Under his hand, Kido twitched at Sasuke's intrusion. Sasuke flipped through Kido's memories at the same speed and efficiency as he had done with Magire.

Kido believed that Magire had conducted all the testing and experiments on his own - without any aid. He had been lied to - amusing. "The steam is helping speed the production process," Magire told Kido in one of the instances.

For some reason, Kido's memories were jumbled and confusing the more he tried to pry into Kido and Magire's conversation. Had he taken any kind of drug after Sakura defeated him? Was he expecting to meet Sasuke eventually?

The rest of Kido's recent memories were just like an open book - easy to read. What was Kido concealing while he spoke to Magire? Magire did not have these memories, so Sasuke could not cross reference the validity of them.

"In that case, go ahead and kill me now!" Sakura screamed at Kido and brought Sasuke's attention back to Kido's memories. Her eyes were determined, and her words did not falter. She was not going to give Sasuke away. She was determined to die if she had to. In Kido's original plan, the moment Sasuke showed up to presence Sakura's death a special drug was waiting for him to take him down without any struggle. The ambush was set up.

Despite knowing that the latest bit of information would not really help with the investigation itself, Sasuke could not help but watch how Sakura's determination had not faltered ever. Just like when she defended him against a rampaging Gaara - she had always been ready to die for him.

The final memory Sasuke encountered was the most recent one with any relevance to him, where Kido and Sakura fought. She single handedly fought a man completely enhanced by the drugs he was given. Activating her Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu, Sakura avoided death and defeated Kido with nothing but her own wits and her medical ninjutsu. Sasuke had witnessed Sakura use her Mitotic Regeneration against Madara - the ultimate jutsu of a medical ninja, a jutsu where one may become temporarily immortal.

Kido did not have any more relevant information on him. Even though he was the mastermind behind the drugs, he had less information on them than Magire.

Sasuke tossed Kido back down. He had seen enough.

* * *

In Kakashi's office, Sakura did not turn to see Sasuke leave with Ibiki. She kept her gaze forward while she glanced at Ino and Kakashi respectively - back and forth, as she waited for one of them to speak.

"The reason I also called you Sakura, is that since this issue involves several amounts of drugs being produced, we need your expert opinion on the field," Kakashi spoke. "I need you to work with Ino to understand what was being produced."

"Yes!" both women replied and left immediately.

* * *

Heading to the lab with Ino, Sakura could not help but feel a bit of dread rising in her gut. She needed to find out what was being produced.

"Here," Ino handed Sakura some vials needed for inspection. "Sorry for leaving so early yesterday, Kakashi told me to inspect these at the break of dawn."

"That's fine. This is more important," Sakura replied as she started testing the compounds given to her.

Several hours later, both women drew blanks and could not find out what was being produced in the Land of Hot Water. The simpler chemicals had only taken a few minutes to find out what they were, and that is how Ino had gone to Kakashi's office so early to report. The other compounds, however, were extremely complex, and even with a set procedure, it could take weeks and even months to find out what they were for.

"I will leave these in a solution to start breaking down the heavier chemicals, it should take a few days," Sakura said. "There is literally nothing else we can do right now."

"Right," Ino replied. "Maybe we should ask for Shizune or Master Tsunade's opinion."

"Not a bad idea," Sakura replied while holding her chin.

Calling it a day, both women decided to go home. Both had been extremely tired from all the trials and errors in the lab, they would reach no conclusions like this.

Walking in different directions, both women waved goodbye and went on their ways.

Half way home, Sakura noticed that Sasuke was walking just ahead of her with a shopping bag in his hand - what was he up to?

"Sasuke!" Sakura said as she ran up to him with a half-smile on her lips, "Doing some grocery shopping?"

"Yes," Sasuke sternly replied. "I am leaving tonight to investigate the Land of Hot Water."

At Sasuke's reply, Sakura stopped walking and froze on the spot, her lips were slightly parted and her gaze dropped.

He is going to leave again, she bitterly thought.

"For how long?" Sakura's voice shook as she whispered back.

"I don't know, that is -"

Before Sasuke could finish his sentence, Sakura ran past him. She needed to be alone. Sasuke was going to be leaving her alone again. She had waited so patiently for him and now he had spent less than a week ever since he came back, and was now going on another mission. How long was her patience supposed to last?

As she ran home, Sakura could not help but let the tears flow out. She did not want to let anyone see her like this - she was known in the village as Tsunade's worthy successor. A master of medical ninjutsu - and yet, she was now a wreck.

Reaching her doorstep, Sakura let herself in immediately. Tossing her shoes in a corner, Sakura didn't even reach her sofa before she started sobbing violently on the floor.

Silent minutes felt like hours crying, and Sakura didn't even know why she felt like this. Sasuke wasn't hers. He was free to go and do whatever he pleased. Even though they were obviously close, and he sent her messages while he was gone...

I can't see him off like this, she thought. If he was going to be gone again, it was for a good cause. Whoever took advantage of the children, had to obviously pay.

I'll see him off with a smile, she decided. With her mind made up, Sakura got up and went to wash her face from all the tears she had cried. She had to be strong for herself and Sasuke, she knew where she was going to see him off - at the village gate just like last time.

With newfound determination, she decided to wash the stickiness on her face and blow her nose. Her face was completely puffy from crying - not the best version of her. When she felt strong enough to walk out the door to go see Sasuke off, she gave herself another look in the mirror - a pained smile drawn on her face.

As she gathered her shoes that were thrown in different directions, she felt a presence outside her front door.

Sasuke was standing there the moment she opened the door. An amused look scrawled all over his face.

Did he come here to say goodbye to me?

With a soft sigh, Sasuke spoke tenderly as he poked her forehead, "Sakura, you're coming with me."


	9. A New Leaf

**9: A New Leaf**

"Heh!?" Sakura sounded panicked at Sasuke's sudden invitation. "What about the hospital, and children's center? I need to make arrangements first!"

"This is an A-Rank mission, Sakura," Sasuke explained firmly. "We won't be traveling for leisure. Kakashi already took care of everything."

Sakura did not expect all of this to happen so suddenly. For all she knew, Sasuke would spend a few weeks or even months in the village, and now they were on a mission together. Most likely Shizune and Ino would take over her work in the hospital and children's clinic. Being in a mission was definitely going to be a different deal than traveling for leisure, and as such, she would be automatically excused from both of her positions. Still, Sakura did not like to offload her work on anyone else, regardless of how long she had to be gone.

Either way, Sakura knew that A-Rank missions did require at least one medical ninja per group or squad. Tsunade had taught her the importance of having a medical-nin on a mission. Oddly though, why would Kakashi assign her to travel with Sasuke? He had proven himself to be a full three-man squad by himself, and he had taken care of the human bombs personally. Whatever he was up against he would most definitely be more than competent dealing with by himself. She knew she wouldn't be required to take care of Sasuke during the trip. He was too strong already.

However, she thought, they were dealing with drugs that they had never seen before. These materials would have to be researched on the go, and possibly even counteracted if necessary. If she could get a hold of them to find out what was being produced that would help the mission to succeed.

She knew for a fact that Sasuke was immune to poison because of Orochimaru's training. However, the way drugs acted on the body was a whole different ballpark. Once metabolized, she'd have to calculate the half life of the drugs in order to understand how long it would take for them to break down. She herself had been a victim of a strong substance administered by the ANBU. What if Sasuke became a victim too?

After deliberating and analyzing the situation, Sakura understood Kakashi's reasoning behind assigning her this mission with Sasuke. There was no other ninja as competent and as available as she was at the moment. Tsunade or Shizune would have been excellent choices for this mission, except that Tsunade was retired and Shizune had never carried out a mission with Sasuke. Sakura was clearly the best choice.

"I'll meet you at the gate at midnight," Sasuke interrupted her chain of thought.

It seemed as if their mission was going to be carried out in secret so the other nations would not find out. Both Sakura and Sasuke were well known in the five great nations, which means that their secrecy only needed to be carried out until they left the Land of Fire, since in the Land of Hot Water they were anonymous, and no one would know who they were and what they were up to - they would be able to move and investigate as they pleased.

The Land of Hot Water never kept tabs on their visitors or criminals for good reason. Sasuke and Sakura planned to use that to their advantage.

* * *

Sakura got down to packing as she tried to keep herself from overthinking. In a travel side bag, she could only bring the essentials with her - toiletries, food pills, medical supplies, scrolls, and a spare outfit.

Sakura decided to pay her parents a visit before nightfall- without giving away any details of her next mission. She had been so busy recently that she had no time to spend with them. After a quick lecture about visiting them more often, she announced that she would be gone on a mission the next morning.

Without taking a no for an answer, Mebuki and Kizashi insisted that their daughter had to stay for dinner - without taking a no for an answer. Feeling guilt tripped, Sakura grudgingly accepted the invitation.

"We heard Sasuke is back," Mebuki stated as a matter of fact as Sakura and Kizashi were sat at the dinner table. "You seem to be fairly content," Mebuki looked up with a smirk on her face. Leading her daughter on to spill the beans was too entertaining for her and Kizashi.

"How would you even know that he is back mom?" Sakura inquired, feeling slightly irritated. She had always felt that her parents were too intrusive into her life. Then again, they had seen her through her best and worst.

"The whole village is talking about it, haven't you noticed?" Mebuki continued on. "The gossip began the moment he crossed the gates."

Trying to change the subject, Sakura no longer wanted to hear or participate in her mother's gossip. Not only was it damaging to Sasuke's reputation, but it was also damaging to Sakura. This gossip nonsense could even jeopardize her mission.

After dinner, Sakura was just about ready to leave her parent's home. She reassured her parents that she would be fine, and yes - she would eat properly every day, and yes - she would stay out of danger. Parents will always be parents, she thought. Sakura loved them regardless, but in the end she just needed her space. She was no longer a girl who needed to be constantly watched and taken care of.

Sakura decided to head back home after she bid her parents goodbye and have a nice steamy bath before meeting Sasuke at midnight. She felt glad that she was going to leave the village in the dead of night. The village gate would be deserted by then, which would help to conceal the secrecy of their travel.

* * *

Once it got dark, Sakura felt mentally and physically ready to begin her mission. As she headed towards the village gate, she saw a dark shape standing in the distance. Sasuke had always been extremely punctual. From a distance, she could tell that he was traveling light - a backpack or equipment would just hinder his movements. The dark cape covered his dark trousers and shirt, with the kunai pouch fastened to his right thigh. A sword hung behind him, secured with a strap around one of his shoulders. Inside the back waist pocket, he had another pouch containing food pills and basic travel essentials. There was no need to bring along any other gear since he was used to traveling light.

Sakura greeted Sasuke with an awkward wave the moment she saw him. "Ah, good evening," he replied in a subtle voice, "Let's get going."

Passing by the two gate guards who were on duty, Sakura nodded in their direction acknowledging their presence, while Sasuke stared at the road ahead.

There was only one major road that led in and out of the village, and it was and Sakura quietly began to walk side by side. The road itself was not too wide or too narrow, and the thin gravel and sand crushed beneath their feet.

Once the road reached a fork in two opposing directions, Sasuke stopped and pulled out a folded map from his back pocket and placed it on the ground at their feet. "We are going to head north, towards the Valley of the End. Then, we are going to avoid the Sound Village altogether. This path is a bit steep, and the weather is unpredictable, but we will avoid being seen until we are in the Land of Hot Water. This route should take a couple of days," he said while pointing towards an area in the map that she had never been before.

Sakura understood why they were going to go through this path without Sasuke having to explain himself. The direct route between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire was usually busy and well traveled. The Land of Hot Water was also a tourist destination, and both Sasuke and Sakura were well known by the villagers from the Land of Fire. The last thing they'd want was for rumors to start.

"Understood."

A heavily wooded area awaited in front of them as they began walking off the path that connected the Land of Fire and Hot Water. Walking a straight path was next to impossible since the heavy foliage was green and luscious, and they would hardly budge without cutting through it. They were going to have to take to the treetops to save time, and avoid any possible setbacks by taking the ground route. Stopping to stare at the treetops before taking a leap, Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance and a nod to each other. With only the moonlight to light their way the path ahead of them was exceptionally clear.

Sasuke led the way at a moderate speed. He had been traveling by himself for years, and he had attained an excellent sense of direction. Sakura couldn't help but steal a few glances when she could of him. It was unbelievable how much he had grown in the past couple of years that he was gone. He was not only taller but had also gotten more muscular. The thought of Sasuke standing in front of her with only a towel draped around his waist almost made Sakura miss a step.

Slowing down in speed, Sasuke glanced backward, "Sakura, let's take a break and set up camp right ahead."

In the first clearing that Sasuke saw, he jumped down from the tree branch with a soft and soundless landing, as Sakura did the same right behind him. A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves of the forest around them. The moonlight was so strong that Sakura could see her own shadow.

They had been traveling for hours without any rest. Sasuke sliced several branches with his sword for firewood and brought it towards a small natural pit on the forest floor. The pit would allow the fire not to spread while also stopping it from being extinguished from the wind. Meanwhile, Sakura gathered an armful of dry leaves and dropped them in the center of the pit, immediately moving backward before Sasuke used his fire jutsu.

Kneeling down in front of the pit, Sasuke gestured with his right hand the hand sign of the Ram.

Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu

In a small controlled breath, mixed with his own chakra, Sasuke unleashed his jutsu upon the pile that he and Sakura had gathered. The right amount of fire needed to be applied on the pile so that it could be self-sustaining.

Meanwhile, Sakura observed the fire light up from a distance and drown out the shadows created by the moon. Taking off her travel cape and side bag, she set them aside on a tree branch along with her tight waist belt. The kunai holster would remain strapped on her thigh in case she did need to defend herself.

Sitting in front of the fire, Sasuke leaned his back against a rock to rest properly. He remained quiet while he stared at the flames crackling. Pulling out a food pill prepared by Sakura from his back pouch, he inspected it before taking a bite of it. "I can be the first watch, get some rest. We can rotate every two hours" Sasuke flatly proposed.

Finishing her food pill, Sakura felt exhausted and gladly accepted Sasuke's willingness to keep first watch. Setting her cape down on the forest ground, Sakura placed her back pouch to serve as a pillow, and half covered her body to keep herself from getting too cold.

Sakura woke up two hours later to start her watch. Wishing Sasuke a good night, she sat up on her travel cape and tuned out the sound of the fire, and concentrated on anything outside their immediate camp. Sasuke merely closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep, without even bothering to remove his travel cape or other belongings.

Two hours later, Sasuke woke up feeling rested. It was almost morning, and the sun started to come up on the horizon. Sakura and Sasuke extinguished the fire and gathered their belongings to continue on their journey once again.

Picking up the pace, they quickly reached what was once the Valley of the End. The Valley was not too far off from the border with the Sound Village and the Land of Hot Water. The place was still unrecognizable with all the destruction left behind. It used to be a beautiful place, but the Land of Fire had not bothered to restore it to its former glory. Sakura knew well that Sasuke and Naruto had fought there to settle their dispute. However, she had not been able to see the whole area as a whole, since she had been too focused on healing them once the fight was over.

The weather turned for the worse once they passed the Valley of the End and neared the border with the Land of Hot Water. The air was colder, and the clouds were rolling in. Sasuke wanted to avoid the Sound Village altogether, even if they desperately needed shelter. He still hated that place and those involved with it, because it was part of a past that he wanted to forget - the past where prisoners were held, tortured and experimented on.

After half a day of a steep trek upwards, Sasuke and Sakura entered the Land of Hot Water. The wind began blowing in large gusts, and for a moment Sakura felt as if she was going to be lifted off the ground. Most of their journey now had to be done on the ground since the tree tops posed too much of a risk for both of them.

"We should make a stop Sasuke," Sakura exclaimed as the wind became more and more relentless, "We can't continue like this, the rain will come down any second."

"I know of a place we can stop by," Sasuke replied while using his arm to protect his face from the strong gusts of wind. "Bamboo Village is just ahead." The rain had started in small tiny drops and it seemed as if it was going to rain heavily for the rest of the day. Bamboo Village was not far off from the border, and it would provide decent shelter for both of them. Sasuke had been there not too long ago, and he knew that they should have been able to rebuild the damage caused by the human bombs.

"Is this Bamboo Village, Sasuke?" Sakura stopped in her tracks looking at him concerned.

"Wh-what is going on?" Sasuke muttered. The whole village was completely destroyed and empty. The only sound that came from the village was of the dry dead leaves flowing with the gusts of wind. In the center of the village, there was a large structure that seemed to have been burned down. There were scorch marks everywhere - on the ground, on the nearby trees and on the nearby houses. The other houses that had survived were in horrible shape. Many of them had their straw and wood roofs caved in from lack of maintenance. The bamboo grove around the village was still intact, meaning that there was no one living there any longer.

In thicker droplets, the rain decided to come down hard. Running for cover, Sakura and Sasuke decided to pick the house that was the least battered by the elements. The door was almost off its hinges, but the house itself provided some cover from the weather. Trying to catch their breaths, both ninjas decided that this stop was more than necessary. They would be unable to reach their destination being soaking wet and possibly sick.

Sasuke felt a wave of sadness and grief wash over him as he looked around the house. He felt personally responsible for the destruction and death of the village. He had been unable to protect some of the villagers from blowing up. If only he had acted faster, maybe this village wouldn't have reached this level of destruction. Even bandits would have probably steered away from this village since it obviously had no valuables or useful items to steal.

As Sasuke walked around inside the house, his shoes made contact with several shards of broken glass, destroyed picture frames and paper strewn on the floor. The debris was probably caused by the air displacement from the bombs. The inhabitants never stood a chance of rebuilding.

After she caught her breath, Sakura took a good look around the house as she walked in behind Sasuke. They were definitely going to have and wait for the weather to subside. Grabbing an old bamboo broom left in a corner, Sakura gave the small room a quick sweep while the wind still violently shot cold air inside from the broken door. The dirt, glass shards and bamboo pieces were neatly swept into a corner while Sakura also looked for items inside the house that could help them be more comfortable while they waited. In a small closet in the living room, four thin straw mattresses laid neatly folded as if someone had just placed them there not too long ago. Pulling two out of the small closet, Sakura placed them side by side in the farthest corner from the door. In the kitchen, Sasuke noticed that all of the food had been wiped out. Whoever had run away from the village had obviously brought all of their food with them. A large puddle of water was forming inside the kitchen, as Sasuke doubled back into the main room.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Sakura looked concerned, as she placed her belongings on the edge of the straw mattress. She had noticed his off mood the moment they had walked into the village.

"I have been here before," he began, and Sakura settled on the mattress so she could listen to him intently. "The one responsible for the human bombs attacked this place, and killed most of the villagers."

Sitting on the thin straw mattress that Sakura had placed side by side, Sasuke stared blankly at the wall in front of him with his legs half stretched out, while he rested his right arm on his right knee.

"If I had done something sooner…"

Everything made sense for Sakura. The burnt houses, the broken glass, and the scorch mark left behind. People lived here not too long ago and made a living out of the bamboo grove around the village. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Sakura reached out to him comfortingly. She had seen the human bombs herself, and she had seen several villagers blow up in front of her. Not only the sound but also the horrible smell that came along with it lingered in her memory.

Moving to sit beside him, she placed her head on his right shoulder and closed her eyes; she could tell that Sasuke's breath hitched when she intently listened to his breathing pattern. "None of this is your fault," Sakura hesitated. "You did what you had to do, and the actions you decided upon where the best ones considering your circumstances. There is no point in dreading about what you should have done or not done."

Looking up, Sakura could tell how much Sasuke had changed in the few years he had been traveling. He was more compassionate and empathetic towards the people around him. The Sasuke that was once lost in darkness and had once tried to kill her, was long gone. It was subtle, but Sakura knew he accepted her feelings, and also corresponded in his own way. The forehead poke obviously meant something very important to him, since she had never seen him do it in the past.

In a subtle eye movement, he looked down at her from the corner of his eye. In a comforting way, her presence and words brought him a sense of well-being and calmness. Sakura was right - he should not be dreading on what he should or should not have done.

Wordlessly, Sakura got up and moved back to her bed. She felt so cold, that maybe if she curled up in a ball she would feel warmer. A chill ran up her spine and made her feel uncomfortable, since the thin straw mattress did not help her feel any warmer.

Getting up from his spot, Sasuke grabbed an old tin can with soot marks all over it left in a corner that was probably used for heating the small room. With a few leaves, bamboo pieces, and paper that Sakura had swept into the corner, Sasuke refilled the small heater and placed it in the center of the small room. With his fire jutsu, the contents inside the can immediately ignited and it didn't take long for the heat to warm the room. It would help to keep them both warm while the storm raged on outside.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Should we take turns keeping watch tonight?"

After a lingering moment he replied, "No, I think we are going to be just fine."


	10. The Patient

a/n: The day I started writing this, the new Boruto Ending came out. I have never been so hyped since Sasuke Shinden was adapted into anime. Finally, we are going to see some SSS bonding time and this is wonderful. What a great time to be alive.

 **10: The Patient**

When Sakura opened her eyes, the storm seemed to have passed. There was no wind or cold draft coming into the small house any longer. Only thin rays of light came inside, indicating that it was finally morning - just after sunrise.

She felt warm, and comfortable compared to the previous night before she fell asleep. The last thing she remembered was that Sasuke had managed to warm the room with the makeshift heater, but that did not last too long. Once the debris had burned through, the room gradually got colder. Yet, she had slept through the night without waking once.

Sasuke did wake up before Sakura, but somehow their arrangement was comfortable for him. Maybe too comfortable. He had just laid there quietly laying on his back. Once he realized she had woken up he said, "Good morning, Sakura."

The stiffness in her muscles indicated that she had not moved much during the night since half of her body was still prickly from the mat she had slept on, while on the other hand, the other half of her body was extremely cozy. Looking up towards the new source of heat, Sakura eyes silently met Sasuke's face covered by thick layers of bed head.

Sasuke was laying on his back, but his eyes were still shut. He did not mind that Sakura had clung to him while they slept. It must have felt uncomfortable for her - . It was quite cold after the fire went out, and the storm had lasted for quite some time afterward. As much as he did not want to initially admit, he had slept very well, since he was used to sleep in the oddest places when he was travelling. There was something intoxicating about her that he had willingly ignored for so many years, and now he could no longer overlook. Even if it took him long to admit - her warmth, her scent, her love...made him feel elated.

Sakura had her left leg resting on his thighs, while her left arm gingerly draped around him. It took her half a second to realize that she had unconsciously snuggled against Sasuke during the cold night, and he had not moved a single inch. He didn't seem to care in the least bit. In fact, he even returned the favor by tenderly keeping her nestled in his arms.

The burning sensation of embarrassment quickly rose up to her face, and Sakura sat up immediately, bringing her hands to her face, "Ah! Good morning to you too."

I am so lucky, Sakura thought while trying to calm herself down. Her heart seemed to have risen up to her throat, and she tried her best to hide her reaction from Sasuke.

Picking up her waist pouch, she quickly tried to wrap it around her waist - almost dropping it. From her side bag, she removed her elbow and knee protectors.

"What do you use them for?" Sasuke asked inquisitively pointing towards the knee and elbow protectors she was putting on.

"These? I began wearing them when I trained under Lady Tsunade. They protect my joints from the strain of using chakra to enhance my attacks."

"One day," Sasuke said while he got up from the floor, "You'll teach me how to effectively do that."

"I'm not going to go easy on you," she laughed, "I might break a bone or two."

"As long as you can mend me back, I have no problem with that."

"Should we get going?" Sakura asked while she put her travel clock on. Moving towards the entrance of the house, Sakura took a peek to see what the weather was like outside. The sky was cloudy still, but the storm had subsided.

"Ah," Sasuke nodded in agreement. Swiftly picking his belongings off the floor, he was ready under three minutes. "We are not too far from our destination," he added.

"Right," Sakura replied while taking a bite of her breakfast - a food pill.

* * *

Despite the cloudiness, it didn't take long for Sasuke and Sakura to reach their destination. It was still before midday, but the weather was quite different from Bamboo Village. Tiny snowflakes drifted about aimlessly from the sky, and packed in large amounts on the ground. Luckily, they were both wearing long travel capes that did keep the cold out.

Sasuke had been here not too long ago when he was investigating the human bomb incidents, but had not spent any time relaxing.

From a distance, it still looked peaceful. The tourist town was filled with snow, while columns of steam rose up from each individual hot spring. The quaint small town was still one of the main tourist attractions for those seeking relaxation and peace. Underneath all this peace however, the town also hosted important meetings between those involved in the black market.

Standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the village, Sasuke lifted his right hand gesticulating the sign of the ram.

Henge!

Sasuke assumed a different appearance that Sakura had never seen before. His hair was still covering his Rinnegan eye, but it was now silver and short. His right eye was now gray. Sakura felt surprised at how two differing features - eye color and hair, could change the look of a person so much.

"We are going to assume a different identity for the time being," Sasuke revealed. "We can't afford to get recognized here, especially you."

As part of Konoha's medical corps, Sakura's petal pink hair and green eyes were well known - her features did stand out in the crowd. She wouldn't be surprised if war veterans were taking time off in the hot springs did recognize her.

Henge!

In a quick succession of hand signs, Sakura also assumed a different appearance. Her hair was still short, but it was dark blue and straight. She now had bangs covering her forehead, which brought great emphasis to her eyes - a matching shade of her hair color.

 _I prefer the original_ , Sasuke thought with a smirk, as he turned to face the horizon ahead of them.

Pointing towards a town in the distance Sasuke said, "This way."

Jumping off the cliff with extreme precision, they made their way down towards the snowy path that connected Yugakure and Konoha. At this time of the day, there were several travelers coming in and out of the village. Amongst these travelers, Sakura and Sasuke noted there were civilians and shinobi from different villages making their way up and down the path.

Trying to blend with the travelers, they assumed a leisurely pace that did not alert anyone of their intentions.

The town had a magic of its' own: The sulfur impregnated the air, which smelt like rotten eggs. Despite the horrible smell, the sulfur was an excellent skin exfoliant, and great to treat several medical conditions.

As part of their reconnaissance mission, it was important for Sakura to have an idea of the ins and outs of the town. Several small ins lined the small narrow streets towards the edge of the town. The winding path eventually led to the main square that surrounded a large hot spring. This main hot spring was the one that supplied the other ins, but it was too hot for any tourists to bathe in. The bottom of the spring was also completely white because of the sulfur buildup. Whoever wanted to take a relaxing dip would have to be a guest in one of the inns.

Pointing towards a small inn, Sasuke suggested, "Let's stay here."

* * *

"Hn," the innkeeper grunted at the prospect of having customers. He was a middle aged man with dark hair and eyes. He wore a robe-like cotton vest and pants with a headband.

Inside the inn was quite warm, Sasuke noted, as the innkeeper was frantically trying to cool himself down with a fan on his hands.

"Room for two," Sasuke requested, while Sakura kept a step right behind him.

"Yes, this way."

"Um, don't you need our information?" Sakura asked as she and Sasuke followed the innkeeper towards their room.

"As long as you don't cause me trouble and pay for your stay, I don't care!" the innkeeper shot back, "Here is your room, and your keys."

Sasuke and Sakura both exchanged a puzzled look before Sasuke unlocked the door to their room.

Closing the door behind them, Sasuke waited until he could no longer hear the innkeeper's footsteps. Standing beside Sasuke, Sakura also maintained her attention on the weird behavior of the innkeeper.

The room was quite plain looking but well maintained. It was lined with a well-kept tatami mat, with the bedding neatly set on the floor side by side. The walls had light stains from the excess moisture in the room, but overall the room was better than their sleeping arrangements in Bamboo Village.

"Time is of the essence, we should split up and search for clues," Sasuke broke the silence of Sakura's contemplation the moment she set her side bag on the floor. Even though he looked completely different, his voice was still the same - and she loved hearing his voice. The depth and timbre of his voice always seemed to have a special effect on her.

"Where's the best place to start? Any ideas?" Sakura wondered. She had gone in intel missions before, but at this place and time, Sasuke was technically the leader of the mission.

Even though Sasuke was still a Genin and she was a Jounin, there was a huge gap in power between them. Yet, they complemented each other's skills so well. They did not have to discuss and decide who the leader was, since Sasuke had been traveling in these regions already and knew everything much better than she did. Also, Kakashi had handed him the mission specifically to relay it to her, thus meaning that he was unanimously the leader.

"You can start with the places in the inner core of the village, I'll start from the outside core. Let's meet here by nightfall," Sasuke suggested. There were several places they could gather information from. If they did not find any information in this hot spring village, they could move on to the next.

* * *

Walking around the core of the village, Sakura found nothing unusual. She expected as much -. Yet, if she did not look for trouble, she would most obviously not find any. That is how the Land of Hot Water worked. As long as the money poured in from the tourists and the black market, everybody would go home happy.

The flow of tourists in and out of the town was constant, and there was nothing wrong with that, Sakura thought. She was glad that she had changed her appearance, since she had seen several ninjas from the Hidden Leaf walking around, and she would have been easily recognized.

The fresh snow made a slight crunching sound as Sakura walked around the town. There was nothing unusual or out of place. Feeling cold, she decided to warm up in the closet place she could find. There weren't many to choose from, so picking one was not going to be a problem. Perhaps she could begin at the bar, she mused. The customers would most likely spend hours on end getting drunk, and it would be easier to randomly talk to a stranger.

Walking around the small village, Sakura only found one bar in the area she was supposed to be investigating. After eating food pills for the past two days, she felt hungry for real food - but that would have to wait.

"Welcome, Welcome," the bartender called out from behind the bar, before adding, "Miss."

"Um, Thanks," Sakura quietly replied. The last thing she wanted was to attract any attention, but she seemed to have done a poor job at it. She was the only woman in the bar, and the men who were sitting in the booths and at the bar seemed to have immediately ceased talking in order to assess the newcomer.

"What can I get for you Miss?" the bartender wondered, as Sakura took a seat at the bar.

Sliding a drink towards her, the man who was sitting at the bar beside her had observed her the moment she had walked in. He didn't seem so be particularly dangerous. He had dark brown hair and eyes, and a medium built. By his size and weight, Sakura could tell that he was not a ninja.

"Compliments from that customer I guess," the bartender answered his own question, while he picked up a glass to shine with a cloth.

"Thanks, I guess," Sakura looked at the bar companion in the eye. If she was going to talk to a random stranger, it was best that if she got any valuable information, that she would remember his face.

Putting his elbow on the counter, the man turned his body on the stool so that he could face Sakura. "Can I catch your name, Miss."

Trying to find a name that was meaningful to her without giving her real identity away, she stuttered, "Um - my my name is ..." With a fake sip, Sakura put the drink down, and hoped that the man would not ask her for her real name. She would definitely not drink anything offered by a stranger, especially from a place like this.

Out of nowhere, the man became overly friendly and talkative. Without any formal introductions, the man seemed to have forgotten to introduce himself, Sakura observed.

Without touching her drink, the man seemed to be excitedly talking about his trip to the hot springs, and how he needed some time to relax and unwind. None of the conversation seemed to be going anywhere, and yet Sakura could not find a cue to leave without being rude.

After a couple of drinks, the man's speech began to get slurred, and his monolog started to not make any sense. Perhaps Sakura could give him her drink as well so she could leave and gather information somewhere else.

Without noticing, the man drank Sakura's drink as well and continued excitedly talking.

Trying to get up from her spot, Sakura was suddenly held back by her wrist. "Don' go Miss, the nigh' ain' over." Not wanting to make a scene, she tried to slowly pry his fingers off her wrist.

Nothing budged - none of his fingers. The grip had become so strong that Sakura actually did become worried. There was no way this man was an ordinary civilian. He was quite strong - maybe he was a ninja after all.

Dragging Sakura across the bar behind him, the man went towards a group of men who were arm wrestling in a corner. "My tur-turn," he provoked the group quite defiantly.

Turning towards Sakura, the man winked and said, "If I win y y-ou go on date wit' me."

"Hold-," Sakura was about to reply that she refused before the man sat down and put his arm on the table and challenged the man in front of him by putting a hefty amount of money as a bet on himself.

The group around them started to laugh loudly, everybody was at least twice as big as Sakura and her bar companion. Yet, her bar companion did not bat an eyelash. His pupils were extremely dilated, and his face was red. Concentrating hard enough to drown out the noise around her, Sakura tried to count the man's heartbeat. It was extremely erratic as if his body was overcompensating by giving this man a surge of power.

Sakura had seen this before but on a much larger scale. The tailed beast drugs, for example, gave a much more controlled boost. It did not cause the heartbeat to be this erratic though, nor did it cause the same amount of strain on the user's body.

"GO GO GO," the group of men started yelling as soon as both men were ready to arm wrestle. Money started getting tossed in clumps on the table, while both contenders grasped each other's hand.

What seemed to be a slow and controlled beginning, suddenly became a freak show, once the much smaller man seemed to be in control of the outcome.

"Stop, stop," the larger contender started yelling as his arm was almost touching the other side. Unable to hear him, Sakura's bar companion gripped his hand even harder and slammed his opponent's hand on the table - breaking the wooden table and his opponent's arm in the process. "ARGH, YOU BASTARRRD," the man raged while clutching his broken arm. Thin pieces of wood littered the floor along with the man's contorting body.

"What the fuck was that," one of the men from the group yelled out.

Getting up from his spot, the winner was ready to go. "Les go now," Sakura's bar companion ignored the commotion and took the advantage that Sakura was stunned at what she had just witnessed. In a swift movement, he tightly gripped her wrist again. Trying to understand what was going on, she tried to set herself free from the grip, but it seemed as if the man had become even stronger.

Sakura was obviously strong enough to break the man in half is she wanted, but she could not possibly blow her cover. On the other hand, the man's grip was so strong that she felt as if her bones were about to snap if she didn't do something against it. She could not possibly even apply chakra to protect her bones, since the green chakra could also give her away.

"Let me go, now!" she demanded firmly. "I am not going with you."

He's unresponsive. Is he even listening?

"You don't seem to handle rejection," a silver haired man grabbed the man by the shoulder, keeping him in place. Sakura instantly recognized it was Sasuke.

Irked at the interruption, Sakura's bar companion let go of her wrist and swung around with his fists ready for a fight.

Effortlessly, Sasuke dodged all of the attacks, but also kept his distance. He was unsure what he was dealing with, and just like Sakura, he didn't want to attract any unwanted attention.

With a quick movement of his leg, Sasuke tripped the man who face planted on the floor. It seemed to be the best and quickest solution to their problems. The fallen man clutched his face while blood began to drip off his nose. The whole bar burst out laughing.

Sasuke had no patience to deal with drunks. Ever. "Let's go," Sasuke hurriedly grabbed Sakura's hand to leave the bar.

"That man definitely took something, Sasuke," Sakura said as Sasuke led her away from the bar. As they walked on the deserted and dark streets, she retold what she had perceived at the bar, and how that reminded her of the tailed beast drug. "This could be a test or a street version. The one Kido and Maguire used was much more refined and potent."

"It would make sense, but we haven't made much progress, I have not found anything happening in my area," Sasuke stopped to look at her. They didn't seem to have been followed. "Either way, let's call it a night."

"Sasuke," Sakura began with a grin. "I got this off the floor." The moment the man had face planted, Sakura picked up any substantial evidence. Producing a white pill, Sakura held it in front of her face. "I can analyze this and cross reference with the evidence we have already."

* * *

Back in their room, Sakura pulled several small scrolls from her side bag and placed them on the floor. It was not the best place to work with chemicals, but the arrangement would have to suffice. The test itself would check if there were any chemical similarities between her sample and the pill she found.

Sitting on the bed, Sasuke observed her work and did not utter a single word.

Crushing the pill into a powder, Sakura mixed the mixture with a small amount of fluid that she had been carrying in her bag. Grabbing one of the scrolls she had been carrying with her, she unrolled it on the floor. The scroll had several black characters and formulas written all over it. In the very center, a circle was drawn in with black ink.

Carefully, Sakura grabbed the fluid and powder mixture and carefully hovered a drop above the circle. One drop would be sufficient to know if it had any chemical similarities.

In a small cloud of smoke, the mixture completely disappeared in the center of the circle. Wiping the moisture that gathered above her lips, Sakura turned to Sasuke who was still intently watching her work.

"It's inconclusive," Sakura announced, as she began to roll the scroll neatly.

"How so?" Sasuke asked, still fixed in the same spot on the bed.

"There seem to be some similarities," Sakura continued with certainty, "But if it is not 100% compatible, then it is inconclusive."

"So there is a chance that we are on the right track?"

Standing up to face Sasuke, Sakura emphasized, "The best chance we have right now is to find that man from the bar. Do you think he's still there?"

* * *

Running back towards the bar, Sasuke and Sakura hoped they would still be able to catch the drunkard to interrogate him. The sun had already gone down, and the temperature had sharply declined. From the distance, Sasuke saw a large crowd gathering on the street, and wondered what could be happening now? This village was supposed to be a calm and relaxing place, and yet these events were happening. Was it just an isolated case that happened by chance?

The man that Sasuke tripped was inside the bar convulsing. In an erratic movement, his arms and legs contorted and contracted in unnatural places. He was going into a trance... or something even worse. His body could no longer withstand the heart rate and elevated temperature. It was shutting itself down.

"We need to take him to the hospital," someone shouted.

"The closest hospital is miles away, we can't get there this fast in the snow," another one replied.

"Serves him right, he broke Saito's arm."

"This man is going to die," the bartender spoke from behind the bar. "Move him outside, I don't want any dead men in here to deal with."

Sakura knew she would have no choice but to try and save her anonymous bar companion. It would perhaps even blow their cover. However, it would be extremely unethical to walk away and let someone die. She had studied all these years to become a medical ninja and had also sworn an oath to preserve and protect life.

Stepping forward, Sakura demanded, "Move out of the way, I am a medic."

"Why are you here? He was harassing you." The group of men started to laugh at the situation, while Sakura's patience grew thinner and thinner. She was losing a battle against time.

With one hand, Sasuke dragged the motionless man towards a secluded corner of the bar, with Sakura right behind him. Getting away from the loud group of men who were aggravating the situation was the first priority. The second would be to try and save this man. With two fingers, Sasuke crouched down and checked for the man's vitals, "Sakura, he's dead."

Removing her black gloves, Sakura crouched down and applied a wave of chakra to cleanse her hands. "Let me check."

Checking for obstructions inside the mouth, Sakura found nothing. She had to move fast and rule out any other possible causes. Moving over the patient, she placed her ear over his chest to hear for any possible heartbeat. Faintly, there was still a beat, but it was almost gone.

"What the fuck is she doing?" one of the bar goers barked out. "The only medical outpost in this town is closed for the night. Give up already."

"Shut up," Sasuke yelled back the moment a green light shone on the corner of his eyes.

"Hah look at that magic trick - HAHA"

In a quick hand movement, Sakura drew two fingers up and a sharp buzzing noise could be heard - the chakra scalpel cleanly cut the man's shirt off without cutting the victim's skin. Pouring a large quantity of healing chakra, Sakura maintained the heart beat and vitals to a minimum. It seemed as if the damage had been too great. She feared she would not possibly save this patient's life.

With one hand, Sakura reached towards her back pocket and pulled out a syringe with clear liquid. Snapping the cap off with her thumb, she aimed it at the man's outer thigh.

In muffled thump, the dose was administered, and the man quickly seemed to stabilize.

At this point, everybody in the bar had gone silent. The bartender still had a glass and a cloth in his hands, while others seemed to forget about the drinks in front of them.

Underneath Sakura's hands, the man seemed to stir awake. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and there was still cold sweat drying on his skin. The breathing was shallow and labored, and through half closed lids, he whispered, "Let me die," before he passed out again. In that split second, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and took the opportunity to search his memory for any clues before the man once again lost consciousness.

Without noticing Sasuke's actions, Sakura replied, "You're going to be fine." She knew she had finally stabilized the patient, and now it was only a matter of time before she could start asking him any questions.

"Anybody needs a doctor here," a thin scrawny man walked into a bar. "I saw the commotion outside, I figured as much. It's the seventh time this week."

"Um, yes - he needs a doctor, please take care of him," Sakura replied.

As the village doctor finally approached the unconscious man, he tried to pull out a kunai on Sakura's throat before Sasuke stopped him with a counter attack.

"State what your purpose is - NOW," Sasuke ordered.


	11. Seven Weeks

a/n: With the new Boruto cannon material comes out (SS wise), I will be incorporating it into the story. The chapters may take a bit longer to come out since Gaiden is still a few weeks away. I will try my best to work around what the anime has shown us so far.

 **11: Seven Weeks**

No one inside the bar made a single sound. Those that were mocking her moments ago were now staring in amazement, without moving a single inch. They knew that the situation had already gotten out of hand, and those involved in the altercation were beyond any regular shinobi.

In an ominous dark red glow, Sasuke had his Sharingan activated while he defensively held a kunai. "State what your purpose is, or I won't guarantee that I'll spare you," Sasuke once again broke the silence with a deadly chill to his voice.

While still crouching over her patient, Sakura was caught in the worst position for a fight. She would have to move quickly and reposition herself if she saw a window of distraction in the doctor's eyes. In a few seconds, she gathered enough chakra in her fists and feet in case she had to fight or flight.

In that split second, her target threw a smoke bomb on the floor, and the lights went out immediately.

Putting her right hand on the floor, Sakura spun an upward kick with her left leg aimed at the doctor's jaw, but he vanished before she hit him. The kick did have a considerable amount of chakra infused in it, but Sakura knew she could not overdo it. If she did go for a full force kick, she would most likely destroy half the block.

In the darkness, a glass window shattered and scattered shards littered the floor. Without any sense of direction, Sasuke tried to use his Chidori to pursue the fugitive while at the same time temporarily lighting up the area around him. The only problem was that the Chidori's intense light caused a strong glare and did not allow Sasuke to see beyond his arm's reach.

In pitch darkness, Sakura held her breath and dashed towards the direction where she heard the sound of broken glass. With her arms protectively covering her face and holding her breath, Sakura tried to frantically find the window, but it was no longer there. It was now a solid wall of mud.

With a ready fist and no time to waste, she unleashed her energy right in the center of the mudwall, shattering it to dust. The night lights and the fresh cold air immediately flooded in and Sakura and Sasuke rapidly left the bar. When they got outside they noticed a faint trail of footprints in the snow and Sasuke could see a dark shape fleeing in the distance. The doctor's smoke bomb and mudwall had only delayed them a few seconds.

Before Sakura could even begin the sprint ahead of her, Sasuke had already covered half the distance. He was fast - unbelievably fast. It was almost as if his large strides allowed him to float gracefully forward without any sound being made. The only reference Sakura had of him ever touching the ground were the steps he left behind in the snow.

The doctor was not slow either. His head start allowed him to cover a great distance before Sasuke could catch up with him.

Sasuke drew one shuriken from his wrist seal and tossed it in the direction the doctor was heading in. Sensing the danger, the doctor avoided the shuriken by ducking his head to the left while he tried to regain the distance between himself and his attackers.

Using his Rinnegan ability, Sasuke switched places with the shuriken and quickly drew his katana - ready to fight. When the doctor noticed the threat ahead he skidded for several meters to a halt and ended up falling backward in surprise.

"There is no escape - start talking," Sasuke announced as Sakura had finally caught up to them and stood a few meters behind the doctor, trapping him.

"I don't know who you are, and how you did that," the doctor pointed at Sasuke with a slight shake, as Sasuke and Sakura closed the distance between them. "I expected you to at least be a regular civilian so that I could kill her. I guess I should've analyzed the situation better. What are you both doing here?"

"You're not in a position to be making questions," Sasuke retorted.

"The one over there is Haruno Sakura," he said turning to face her, "I can tell because of her medical abilities. I saw you both through the window before I walked in. No other medical ninja in this land would have been able to save that patient like you did. You both might as well get rid of your disguises now."

Before releasing their henge jutsu, Sasuke shot Sakura a silent glance. There was no point in keeping up with their disguise anymore. Sakura knew from the beginning that there would be a great chance of being discovered if she attempted to save the patient at the bar. It was a risk she was willing to take.

"Who are you? Why did you try to kill me?" Sakura shot back the moment she released her jutsu in a cloud of smoke. She felt annoyed that somebody who was praising her so much would then try and kill her. Was this man just buying time?

Ignoring Sakura's first question the doctor replied, "I am merely following orders - nothing else," with an enigmatic smile on his face. Once the doctor noticed both ninjas around him had released their jutsus he turned his gaze towards the man in front of him, "Ah, so you're Uchiha Sasuke."

"Whose orders are you following?" Sakura hesitated in asking.

"Stop wasting our time," Sasuke said briskly as he walked towards the man with his katana pointed at his chest. "You better not put up a fight, it would be unwise," he added as the doctor's hand twitched towards his pouch.

 _Amaterasu_

Suddenly the man's leg was engulfed in dark flames and the doctor began to panic as he fell backwards into the snow. "Please stop, I'll talk I swear!" he screamed. "I don't have much to offer - I work for someone else. I was told to kill anyone who stood out and could disturb our business."

Satisfied with where the confession was going, Sasuke stared intently at the dark flames until they were extinguished. "Continue," he calmly said.

The doctor touched his right leg and applied some healing chakra before he began speaking once again. "I am merely a distributor, and I work for Migi - he's the right hand man of the boss," he spoke before taking a break to concentrate on healing his leg. The doctor was not as skilled in talking while healing - he had to take several consecutive breaks as he spoke.

"What are you distributing then?" Sakura questioned. "We saw that man in the bar. Did he take something you gave him?"

"Ugh, yes. I was observing him die from outside when you two walked in!"

Grabbing the doctor by the collar, Sakura lifted the man off the ground and shouted angrily, "You didn't answer my question! You better be coherent or the flames will be the least of your troubles!"

Trying to set himself free of Sakura's grip, the man fell back into the snow. "I sell drugs that enhance your strength and power. They come in different concentrations and doses, and they may be consumed for any task - just like the man you saved. He was trying to earn money and a date with it!" the doctor confessed.

With a smirk he continued, "He was giving me trouble and becoming a nuisance - so I decided to kill him. Whenever someone attracts too much attention, we just silently kill them - during off hours so that I don't have to respond for their deaths. They go straight to the morgue." Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, the doctor knew he was done for as soon as his superiors found out that he leaked all of the information. He knew for a fact that he would not be able to keep silent with the Sharingan user right in front of him. "The deaths are then ruled as natural deaths, accidents, you name it. Nobody cares or investigates, this is a small village."

"How often do you receive shipments?" Sakura inquired back.

"Every two months. The boss doesn't bother as much with this village since it doesn't bring him enough profit - I just got a shipment a week ago."

Thinking about her alternatives, Sakura wanted this issue to get resolved as soon as possible. "Alright, let's cut a deal," she began saying. "You have never seen us in this village. We catch your boss, you go free - simple."

Before the doctor could reply, Sasuke interjected, "You don't have a choice. They will kill you the moment they find out you spilled it all. For us, it makes no difference." Without saying anything, Sakura cast Sasuke a quick glance. She knew that he actually cared if the man lived or not, but this was all part of the negotiation - they had to play on the man's fears to get what they wanted.

Feeling resigned, the doctor straightened out his clothes with a pompous attitude, "Alright, so you're offering me protection."

"Yes," Sakura assured. She did not like this man's attitude. In fact, she felt like punching his smug face. In her eyes, this man was no doctor. All the illicit activities he was involved in made her perceive him as a disgusting human being.

"We will be back in seven weeks - where do the shipments get dropped off?" Sasuke inquired as the doctor prepared to leave.

"The medical post," the doctor said with an air of relief as he turned to leave before he added, "In the outskirts of town. You won't miss it."

Sakura and Sasuke stood silently as they saw the man leave and go north. Before they began walking towards the Inn, they decided to return to their former disguises. They might have been found out by one person, but they both knew that their identities would be safe for now.

There was no way they would wait around town for seven weeks before the right hand man showed his face. There was only so much they could do to distract themselves. On the way back to their Inn, Sasuke wanted to ask Sakura if she preferred to leave that town and go somewhere else to wait it out, or perhaps even go home? It was still early evening but the temperatures were below freezing, and the streets were already empty.

In a low sigh, Sakura broke the silence before he did,"Um- Sasuke, should we grab some dinner?" she asked while her stomach quietly grumbled. Her stomach had been grumbling ever since she had arrived in town with Sasuke since the food pills did not make her feel satisfied enough. She craved real food for once.

"Ah," Sasuke nodded in agreement. He had been hungry as well, but the recent developments had been more important than his personal needs. Sitting down to eat real food wasn't a bad idea.

"Should we call this a date?" Sakura asked teasingly. She noticed way too late that she had made quite a forward and direct question. Perhaps too direct. She had been yearning to ask him to go on a date with her for a while, she just did not know when to seize the right chance for it.

"No," he considered. What was the point of a date anyway? Wasn't a date a trial period? Wasn't a date an uncertainty of sorts? Sasuke felt that they were definitely past that point. Why would Sakura suggest a date? Her feelings for him had always been as clear as day. If it really meant a lot to her, he would try and take her out on a date - perhaps after he properly talked to her. One step at a time.

Without showing her emotions, Sakura felt discouraged for her bold initiative before Sasuke continued, "Not in a place like this," before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders bringing her close to him as they walked.

Sakura felt as if she had been caught off guard. Was Sasuke always coy before he showed her this warmer side of him? It almost reminded her when they almost kissed when they were genins…but for some reason he backed out last second. Looking up, she saw no nervousness on his part. With his arm still around her, he stared forward while he seemed to be thinking hard about something - but she dared not interrupt his thoughts.

The small restaurant they decided to walk into was nearly empty apart from a few wooden tables, where no one took notice of the newcomers. Once they had taken a seat facing each other, they were animatedly greeted by the owner, who offered them menus. "What can I get you?" the owner asked. "We have a few specials today."

There weren't many options for food, but it was still better than relying on food pills for the whole journey. Once they placed their order, they had time to kill and discuss their plans.

"So, where do we head to next?" Sakura wondered as she propped her head on her hands. "Should we go home and wait the seven weeks?" For some reason, she felt relieved that she had a break from the crazy routine she lived every day. Most of the time she hardly allowed herself a day off, and often she tried to shoulder the work that went beyond the scope of her responsibility. "I don't mind waiting it out with you. My share of the work is taken care of back home. If there's anything important they will summon me back."

"If you'd prefer," Sasuke responded while he gazed back at her with a thoughtful look on his face. "There is some work to the south that I promised I'd be back for - areas that have been hit hard by the last war. They could use medical help...if you want to come. Your medical skill is now second to none."

Sakura felt the heat creep up her face from Sasuke's unexpected compliment, "...Thanks," she smiled sheepishly while her face instantly flushed. It had been a long time since she had been complimented by anyone in particular, let alone Sasuke himself. Perhaps the last time he had fully acknowledged her skills was when they were still genin - when he smiled at her and publicly complimented her abilities. Either way, she knew that Sasuke would only give credit where it was due, and he would never compliment anybody unless he really meant it.

Trying to switch the attention off herself, she still wanted to ask Sasuke so many questions. She knew he had been going against some criminals while he was away from the village, but there was only so much he could do while he was gone. There was no point in going after the 'bad guys' all of the time - no matter how crooked, a job vacancy was still an opportunity for profit. His work was possibly selective when it came to that. "What kind of work do you usually undertake when you are traveling Sasuke? You couldn't possibly be going after gangs and criminals all of the time."

"Ah, that's right. Apart from the ANBU and the Lighting Gang, I have not fought anyone else worth mentioning," he closed his eyes before he continued, "I did do some training with the Rinnegan...I am trying to understand its' abilities better, and one of the abilities I have trained is Space-Time ninjutsu. At first, I believed I could only shift with a target for short distances. However, I did find that there is a cost to go a step further than that." He opened his eyes to look directly into her eyes. He was finally going to truly tell her what had been tearing at him for so long - and why he was in an eternal turmoil with himself when it came to Sakura.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Several aspects may be distorted in different dimensions…I don't have much information. This takes a lot of chakra, and so far I can only transport myself," he said running a hand through his hair. "Gravity may be distorted - like the one we have been in during our fight against Kaguya, where our weight was multiplied… or in some instances, there was no gravity at all."

"There was another dimension I was able to enter, where time was severely distorted, Sakura. I only spent a few seconds there, but weeks had gone by while I was gone. I suspect the opposite is also true - I haven't had any extra chakra to test that theory yet. If anything, I could spend a few minutes in another dimension, and it could take months or even years in our dimension."

"Does anybody else know about this?" Sakura asked. Sakura knew where he was going with this talk.

"Only Naruto."

Sakura felt as if a sheet of ice had gone over her face. "Where are you going with this Sasuke?" It felt as if the conversation had really gone south between them. At one point Sasuke seemed to warm up to her, and then in other instances he seemed distant. This must have been bothering him ever since he came back. He must have been trying to break this to her.

"Sakura, once this mission is over, I don't want you to wait for me," he said stone faced. "If I run out of chakra and get trapped in one of these dimensions, it could take years, or even decades to come back. I only have enough chakra to practice going into different dimensions."

Everything made sense as to why Sasuke had been so irritated that one night when she met him and Naruto at Ichiraku's. They must have been talking about Sasuke's ability, and Sasuke was obviously going to have to make a painful choice. Judging by Sasuke's reaction and silence when she arrived, his choices would probably not be easy. Why was Naruto trying to play the matchmaker? Was he trying to give Sasuke the answer in his own way? Was there more to their conversation before she got there?

"You are still looking for Kaguya's influence," she replied without addressing his affirmation.

"The only information that I have is what I already told you. Kaguya prepared for a war that we don't know about."

"Well Sasuke I guess I have a lot of chakra lending to do," Sakura mused. "I have enough experience and chakra… I managed to transfer large amounts of chakra to Obito so we could find you in that desert."

Sasuke had honestly not thought about this. He did need practice with his new ability, and Sakura had already gone through that experience long before him. She had the chakra control and supply he needed. With her chakra, his training and recharge time would most likely be much shorter, and he would not have to be gone from the village as he originally thought.

"Sakura…Thanks," he said. Her analytical ability never ceased to amaze him. She had found a simple solution to his problem, while Naruto and himself were not able to. He couldn't believe he almost jeopardized his chances of being happy again without looking for any other alternatives. He had been feeling so conflicted towards Sakura - he knew he had been sending her several mixed signals ever since he had come back to the village. In the end, she had always been ready to shoulder anything for him.

"Excuse me lovebirds," the restaurant owner interrupted them as he set two plates down, "Enjoy your food."

Even though it had only been a few days ever since they had left The Land of Fire, Sakura had truly missed eating real food, having a real shower, and sleeping in a real bed. She had spent so much energy in the past few days that she had felt completely drained. A good bath and a night's rest would definitely solve it all.

When they were done eating they paid their tab and thanked for the food before they stepped out into the cold again. "I could totally use a hot bath now," Sakura said stretching her arms up.

* * *

Back in the Inn, Sakura made a beeline towards the women's bath, while Sasuke went in the opposite direction.

The first thing he noticed when he entered the baths was the large mirror in the dressing area. He still had silver hair and gray eyes, and his reflection took him by surprise since he had never held a henge jutsu for so long - he never had the need to.

The baths were quite small with a dressing room and communal showers. Past a wooden sliding door that led outside, there was a small hot water pool. A thin and short wooden barrier separated the men and women's outside portion. Luckily, the baths were completely empty at this time of the night, so that Sasuke could finally relax and undo his henge jutsu.

Once he was done rinsing himself, he went and got inside the pool. Leaning against the wooden barrier, he could sense that there was no one else on the women's side of the baths except for Sakura, who had just gone for a soak in the hot pool as well.

Sensing Sasuke's position, she quietly drifted near the spot he was sitting at. "I haven't relaxed like this in a long time," she sighed loudly before she sunk into the pool.

"We should leave tomorrow morning," Sasuke said loud enough for Sakura to hear him from the other side of the wooden barrier.

"Right, there's not much else to do here anyway," she replied with her eyes closed.

Realizing that Sasuke was just on the other side, her eyes instantly shot open again. It wouldn't hurt to take a quick peek. The wood divider was quite thin… and it would definitely not hold her weight if she climbed it, she thought. Inspecting along the wooden divider, she saw some parts that seemed to be shifting. Slowly but surely, she moved some pieces around without making any sound. She had to try at least…

On the other side, Sasuke noticed the slight movement happening coming from Sakura's side. It was almost inaudible, but he did notice something was going on. He could tell she was definitely not in the water anymore, and she had been quiet for quite some time. He smirked to himself when he realized what she was trying to do.

"Sakura," she heard him call her name from the other side, "We should get back inside, you might catch a cold."

"R-Right!" she spluttered back embarrassedly, as she quietly put back the wood slats that came loose. She knew that he had noticed what she was trying to do - but was being extremely discreet about it.

Back in the changing room, Sakura put on a yukata offered by the Inn. Since it had been so cold recently, she made sure to put all three layers before she headed back to the room. The halls of the Inn were completely deserted. Passing by the front desk, the Innkeeper was nowhere to be seen. He probably went to bed, Sakura thought.

Before she entered her room, she could tell that Sasuke was already there. After a light knock to announce she was coming in, she opened the door to find Sasuke just about to wrap his upper arm. There were still fat drops of water rolling down his dark hair, which messily framed around his face. His shirt was rolled up to his shoulder, and he held a piece of the bandage with his mouth. He seemed to have become flustered when she walked in on him performing such an odd task. It seemed as if his coordination was gone, and he was unable to keep the bandage in place while she watched him inquisitively.

With his eyes closed and a wry grin on his face, Sasuke grabbed the bandage off his mouth and extended it towards Sakura, so that she could grab it off his hand.

In a swift movement, she grabbed the bandage off his hand and expertly wrapped his arm within seconds. "Does it hurt?" she asked concerned while she gave him a quick examination.

"No."

"We still have your replacement arm ready back home, if you ever want to take it…" she trailed off.

"I prefer it this way, it does not hinder my fighting abilities in any way," he replied slowly reopening his eyes. Her hands were still resting on his left upper arm when he looked down to meet her gaze.

When their eyes met, her hands dropped to her side and Sasuke slowly leaned in towards her. She could feel her heart beating firmly in her chest the closer he got.

Still looking up, she felt startled while she looked into his eyes dark as night, while his hand gently touched her cheek... She could feel his lips seconds away from her.

Running his fingers towards the base of her neck, he drew her towards him, pressing himself into her, while her arms wrapped around his waist. There was no distance at all between them when he closed in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Sakura felt as if her world had become him and him only. Nothing else mattered. Their first gentle kiss gave way to a second more passionate one. The severe weather outside was completely forgotten along with her past, present, and future.

Sasuke's breathing pattern coincided with Sakura's desire for him. Her hands ran under his shirt, curious - exploring, while her nails gave him a pleasurable shiver down his spine.

Moving his hand from the base of her neck, his hand begun to wonder before he caught a hold of himself, breaking off their passionate kiss. At the sudden interruption, Sakura looked up inquisitively - this was not the place and time to start a chain reaction.

Still in an embrace, Sasuke gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead saying, "Good night, Sakura."


	12. The Deal

**12: The Deal**

The previous night almost felt surreal in Sakura's memory. Her heart still fluttered in her chest, and the slight anxiety still lingered in her stomach. The tiredness that tried to dull her senses was only overpowered by the sheer happiness she felt.

After she rubbed her eyes and stretched her limbs, she looked right beside her to see that Sasuke was still sleeping on his futon. The only visible part of him was his messy hair that sprung in all directions.

They were going to head somewhere new today. Sakura wondered where to, since she had not traveled as much as Sasuke had. Briefly, she thought of all of the places he had been and all the people he had seen during those years. Now she was going to partake in some of that journey, and perhaps even travel to some of the places he had also traveled.

Travelling towards an unknown place...was that the sense of freedom he felt? Not knowing who he would encounter and what issues he would have to solve...just living day by day. Did he think of her often as he tried to find new purpose in life?

With her outstretched hand, she fondly touched her own forehead remembering the first time Sasuke had told her that he would be back for her. There must have been a great significance behind the act that she still did not know. Would she ever have the courage to ask Sasuke about it?

A slight rustle of sheets in the room brought Sakura back from her contemplation. Sasuke had just woken up when he sat up to run a hand through his messy hair, helping the wilder locks to settle in a spiky pattern around his face. "Oh, you're awake," he sounded surprised as he was caught off guard in a mid hair stroke.

"Good morning," Sakura replied as she sat up, "I'm going to freshen up and I'll be ready to go."

"There's no rush," Sasuke replied as he got up to wash his face in the washroom that was located in the main hall. "Our next stop is less than half a day's travel. It is at a lower elevation, so it won't be as cold," he added when he re-entered the room.

"That is great news!" she replied while she packed her scrolls. "I was getting tired of not feeling my limbs in this place. It takes much more concentration to mold chakra in these conditions."

Deep in thought, Sasuke sat down and opened his map on the floor to study the route they were about to take that day. There were still many places he wanted to visit and return to. It was amazing how many villagers pleaded for his help in times of peace. Most often, the requests were petty and he would ignore them. Even if he needed a place to stay for the night, he preferred to sleep on the forest floor than helping some farmer get back at their neighbor over some failed crops. In other instances, he had to protect smaller villages from criminal taxation. It changed constantly depending on his location.

The war had been over for a while, but there was still so much to be done. Once Sasuke finished studying the map he got up and looked over to see what Sakura was doing. She was intently scribbling a message on a tiny piece of paper. There was something beautiful behind the diligence she put in her work. "I have to send this information back to Kakashi," Sakura looked up with a serious expression on her face; the brush and paper were still in her hands.

Once they finished packing, they paid the grumpy Innkeeper and thanked him for his hospitality. They didn't bother to revert back to their disguises. It was clear that he didn't care enough to ask.

They hadn't even spent a full day in that small town, but for them it felt as if they had been there for a long time. It was still early morning when Sasuke and Sakura left the Hot Water Village and headed south. Once they were out of the town, Sasuke called down his hawk so that Sakura could send her message with the mission update.

Sasuke knew exactly where they were going to head to next, while Sakura just walked side by side with him. As long as she got to spend as much time with him as possible, she didn't care where they were heading.

Throughout their journey, they both talked about some of the things they had been doing in the past few years. Sakura animatedly told Sasuke about the children's centre, and how she had travelled with Ino to other villages to personally explain how that would improve the overall mental health of the younger generation. She also told him about her long work days at the hospital, and how the overall physical health of the villagers had deteriorated due to the stress caused by the war and the rebuilding process. There were several types of missions of varying degrees of danger - from medical to rescue missions.

Sasuke on the other hand had been in so many places, had seen so many people. He told her how he travelled with almost no money on him, and how he did favors in exchange for food and shelter. When he did not have the opportunity to have either, he would sleep in the treetops, forest floor, or caves, and would fish and hunt for food. These moments allowed him to contemplate and be at peace with himself. Sometimes he did not like staying in smaller villages, since that attracted unwanted attention.

Despite knowing that Naruto got married, Sasuke did not know about any other details in particular, and he didn't bother asking Sakura about it. Naruto had found his happiness - the recognition he had longed for, and someone who had loved him his whole life. Even though he knew his best friend wanted him to be present on that special day, Sasuke knew that at that moment he had to prioritize his own needs and reevaluate his life. He had to decide if it was worth going back to the Hidden Leaf after everything that had happened, and if the positive aspects of his return would outweigh everything that happened in the past.

When they stopped for a quick break, Sasuke went into greater detail of when he first developed his new technique, of the dimensions he had visited, and how he even returned to the same spot where Sakura's flak jacket had been left behind.

"My jacket?" Sakura asked surprised, after taking a sip of water. "Did you find…"

"Here," Sasuke pulled out a small pendant from his pocket shaped like a cherry blossom flower and offered it to her. "I had almost forgotten to give it back to you. I had it with me for a while."

"I can't believe you found it," she took the small pendant in her hands and held it close to her heart. "I thought it was gone forever," she murmured as she secured it around her neck once again. Her father had given the pendant to her when she was still a child, and during the war she had to remove it for safety reasons. She had never thought that she would lose her flak jacket with her pendant inside, and she had accepted the fact that it was gone.

The path out of the small village went downhill for hours on end. At first the road was clearly marked, but as they distanced themselves from their last stop, the road got narrower and less travelled. The dirt road that they walked on was barely marked and was only known by seasoned travellers.

Their vantage point allowed them to see the ocean ahead, which gradually got closer as they walked. There was no more snow piling on the ground, and a small tourist town seemed to be graced by the beautiful view of the sea.

"We can stop there for a few days on our way back to our mission," Sasuke looked over and saw the awe in her eyes. It was a beautiful place which was still fairly undisturbed by the nearby town. The fair weather would most likely allow them to set camp outside.

Once they passed Ocean town, a heavily wooded area once again awaited them. After a full day of walking, wooden roofs could be seen from a short distance when the sun had begun to set.

Sasuke instinctively touched the hilt of his katana just before Sakura felt a presence behind some bushes far ahead, "Come out."

"We already told you we cannot work for you any longer!" a male voice was heard from behind the bushes before a figure appeared. A young male no older than twenty five was holding a rusted katana as weapon, while his other arm appeared to be broken.

"Oh, you're back Sasuke," the man stopped in his tracks and dropped the weapon he was holding.

"You brought a friend too," he said stepping off the bushes and into the dirt road. "My name is Kida Kinoyori, nice to meet you, miss."

"Sakura Haruno," she replied stepping forward and removing her gloves. "What happened here?"

"The gang from Ocean town has been making us work for him and now our soil is ruined. We haven't been able to farm anything new in weeks...Everything just dies. They came here last week and saw no improvement, so they took their frustration out on us," the young man said holding his arm out. "At least I don't think they will be back anytime soon, we are now useless to them."

"Why were you hiding behind the bushes then?" Sasuke asked sternly. If they were not expecting the gang to come back why was that man trying to defend himself?

"There are some bandits going around, since there is a food shortage going on, and our village is doing fairly well compared to the other ones. Since I can't work on the crops, I raise an alarm if I see anything suspicious. Have you encountered any bandits?"

"No we haven't. Before you continue telling us what is going on," Sakura cut him off, "Can I take a look at your arm?" she asked impatiently. There was something she could not stand was seeing someone with an untreated wound going by as if nothing had happened. She knew the man in front of her had merely wrapped his arm the best way possible and didn't have much knowledge in the medical field.

"You know medical ninjutsu?" Kida inquired as Sakura handled his broken arm. The pain began to sear the moment she touched it since she had to break his arm before she could mend his bones again. His bones had already begun healing in the wrong way. It had been a few days since his arm had been broken.

"Yes, stay still. It will hurt a bit at first but it will stop. Trust me."

Once the pain began to subside, Kida resumed where he left off, "Well you see, last year Sasuke spent a few days here with us helping out with the crops. Except that a few months later, this group came around and promised us riches. We were dumb and followed their advice. They never paid us for our work, and eventually when the crops died they began to threaten our village."

"Well, we could give them a piece of our minds," Sakura made a fist with her free hand.

"No, what would a doctor and a farmer do?" he replied looking at her straight in the eye.

"Farmer?" she looked at Sasuke. She wanted to burst out laughing but with the sheer force of will, she kept her composure. Had he been concealing his true identity the whole time?

"You're right," Sasuke looked serious. "What will you do?"

"Well if my arm is good as new, I can work on getting our crops back up," he looked up at Sasuke.

"That is a good start," Sakura exclaimed.

"And then what?" Sasuke nudged on.

"We have to fight for what is ours, what is important to us," Kida concluded. "No point in cowering anymore, we have to protect what we worked hard for."

"All done with your arm," Sakura sighed, wiping her forehead.

"I can't thank you enough," Kida gushed while pointing towards the village behind him, "If you would like to stay the night, I have a spare bedroom."

* * *

The small village was surrounded by farming fields, and beyond that a mountain range could be seen. A small river stream meandered around the wooden houses with clean water for the crops and everyday activities. The houses had definitely seen better days, but were well built and clean. A small temple could also be seen at the edge of the town, where the praying bells broke the peaceful silence.

"I am going to go back to work, make yourselves home. The spare room is just down the hall to the right of the entrance. I am sorry if it's a bit dusty, we haven't had any guests since Sasuke last visited us. Later!"

"So...Sasuke what should we do?" Sakura looked puzzled as she sat down on the floor to rest, "We cannot possibly leave them like this."

Sasuke sat down and looked at her sternly, "There is not much we can do," Sasuke reasoned, "I have seen over and over again that solving people's problems ourselves will not give them the necessary tools to do so in the future. They have to learn how to defend themselves."

Trying to keep her anger out of clouding her judgment she muttered, "Sasuke, they are farmers - they are just trying to survive. What do you expect them to do? Use their pitchforks to defend themselves? You saw Kida's arm didn't you? Next time… it could be worse. He cannot possibly defend himself or anyone else."

"Our time is limited. The best we can do right now is give them basic help. We can each contribute what we can. If the village gets attacked while we are here, we have a reason to defend ourselves. Unless the Hidden Leaf may be directly affected by this, we shouldn't look into this matter. This is outside our jurisdiction and we cannot possibly solve all the wrongs in the world."

Resigned, Sakura got up to leave the room, "I'm going out."

Outside, Sakura decided to go towards the mountain range where the source of the village's water seemed to come from. After one hour trekking away from the village, she found the area where the water seemed to be sprouting from the soil. She took a sip to alleviate her thirst and sat down to stare into the distance. It was dark out already, but the village lights gave her a point of reference to stare into.

She decided to walk for a bit longer before heading back. Her mind was much clearer than before, and she knew that Sasuke was right. Even though she really wanted to help, this village was out of the Land of Fire's jurisdiction. At this point they had to focus on their mission that was seven weeks away, Sasuke's training of his new ability and helping the smaller villages without massively intervening. Sometimes the bigger changes had to come from the top, and as an important medical ninja back home, she could try and implant another program to help smaller villages without having the villagers to travel for hours or even days in order to reach proper healthcare. The only reason the Hot Spring village had an out of town medical post was because of the tourists in the area. Other than that, the closest one would've taken a day's worth of walking.

On the other side of the mountain range, Sakura saw a small waterfall and decided to see it for herself. It seemed to be a good spot to have a bath. She had walked the whole day and she felt grimy. She tossed her clothes on the nearest branch and when she was about to go inside she felt a presence getting closer. Whoever it was, was not trying to mask their chakra at all, but it could be anyone.

Feeling the presence getting closer and closer she panicked when she failed to put her clothes on, while her shirt ended up in the water. In her holster, she pulled out her kunai; she was ready to defend herself. "Who's there," she yelled out.

"It's me," a familiar male voice was heard beyond the trees.

She immediately knew who it was, "Agh! Hold on - hold on," she pleaded. In half a second she was under the water, shielding herself behind a submerged tree root. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't...You were gone for a few hours, so I decided to help around. I used to come to this place when I was traveling this region," Sasuke half lied. He knew she was upset from their previous conversation, and that she cared about others...maybe too much sometimes.

She heard a splashing sound when Sasuke entered the water. "Oh, I didn't know," she crept into the pond until the water line was just below her nose. "I guess you have to keep up with the story you told them," she giggled.

"Either way, word got around and some villagers need medical attention. They will be coming by in the morning to see you," Sasuke added, ignoring her second statement.

"Fine by me...a-as long as it doesn't attract the wrong kind of attention," she shivered.

"Most of these people have never left this village. I doubt we'd have any problems." The water was just warm enough to stay in for a few minutes before he felt the need to get out. He had no idea how Sakura managed to stay inside for so long without freezing, "Do you wanna head back?"

She heard him get out of the pond, followed by the rustling of his clothes. "Yes, but don't look."

It was ironic that not even a day ago, she was trying to steal a peek and now she was the one not wanting to be looked at. "Alright, I'm facing the other way," Sasuke sighed in resignation, while he packed his dirty clothes away.

Sakura managed to put her black undershirt on which had not ended up in the water. The air was definitely colder, and a shiver ran down her spine. She crossed her arms in front of her and walked towards him. "I shouldn't have left in a hurry, I forgot to bring warmer clothes."

"Here," he took off his shirt without thinking twice and offered it to her.

She put her hands up refusing the gesture. "I- I can't. You're going to get sick, then I'm going to have to nurse you."

"I'm not cold. Take it."

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"Ah."

She grabbed the dark shirt from his hand, and the fabric was soft and clean - it seemed as if it have never been worn. She unfolded it to take a better look at it before putting it on. It had Sasuke's family emblem proudly displayed on the back. Sakura could feel the blood rush to her face, which probably stained her cheeks a deep shade of red. After knowing Sasuke for all of these years, he had never offered her any of his belongings.

"Hurry up, don't make me put it on you," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

From the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Sasuke smirking to himself just before she turned away from him so she could put the shirt on. The shirt was quite oversized for her small frame, but it did protect her from the elements.

Sasuke was amused by the whole situation. He couldn't describe what he saw in exact words. Sakura looked….cute in such an oversized shirt - especially his. Her black shorts were barely visible under the shirt, which looked more like a loose dress. Not only that, she seemed to be extremely embarrassed as well. Despite looking warmer now, she still had her arms crossed in front of her. On a positive note he was no longer cold since he had dried himself off the second he got out of the water, and had draped the wet towel on his shoulder. "Are you still cold?" he asked inquisitively. She had obviously spent too much time under that water fretting about being seen.

She turned to face him again, "Hm, no...it's just that…"

"What?"

"My chest bindings got soaked as well," she said embarrassedly holding one arm across her chest. The bindings allowed her chest to stay in place, which also did not allow her chest to poke outwards in the cold. She had always been insecure about her chest size and her forehead. One was too small, while the other was too big for her liking. Not only that, Sasuke seemed to be oblivious to her reactions without his shirt on. He looked…unbelievably amazing.

"Oh." Sasuke felt as if he had been caught off guard since he never had to deal with a problem like that before. At least she could walk with one arm across her until they got back. It was deserted and dark anyway, he thought. She seemed to be worrying too much. "Let's get going."

There was a narrow path up the mountain which headed back into town. Once they reached the top of the mountain, they started descending on the other side. They passed by the water spring which Sakura had taken a sip of hours earlier, before they headed back down. Sasuke was afraid of walking into Sakura the whole time, and was minding his step carefully so as to not throw her off balance, and she seemed to be doing the same. She remained quiet until they reached the farming plains, where the older crops were so tall that one could easily hide behind of. For some reason she still was slightly shivering, and he had no more clothes to offer her. It was weird how he felt warm enough now, but she was still cold. Without saying a word, he draped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close to him. A surprised gasp escaped her lips while a grin spread across his face.

Slowly, the wave of shivers she felt subsided, and in return, she wrapped her free arm around him as well. "Are you not cold at all?" she looked up at him.

He shook his head and gave her a longing kiss on her forehead. The hour walk back to the village had gone by so quickly, and they were almost at Kida's house.

The village was now quiet, where the only sounds that could be heard came from inside the houses.

Sasuke let Sakura go up the steps first to knock on Kida's front door. "Oh hey, you're both back," he said ushering them in.

"Good evening," Sakura replied for them both.

When Sakura was out of earshot, Kida turned towards Sasuke explaining, "I took the liberty of cleaning the room and setting the futon and bedding down for you. I'm sorry, we only have one at the moment. Will you both be ok?" he asked sticking his pinky out inquisitively at Sasuke's lack of a shirt.

Sasuke nodded in a muted reply. "Thanks," he said before he headed to the room.

Sakura was wrapping something underneath her shirt when he walked into the room. Still wearing his shirt, she began organizing some of her belongings inside her bag and seemed oblivious at their sleeping arrangements.

"I'll sleep on the floor, you take the futon," he announced breaking her concentration.

"What? No, we have so much to do tomorrow. You'll be tired," she looked down embarassed before she added, "The futon is big enough for…for both of us."

Sasuke knew she wasn't going to let this one go - there was no point in arguing with her since she had always been so headstrong.

Sakura noticed his hesitation before she noticed she was still wearing his shirt. "Oh, here," she began to take it off before Sasuke interrupted her.

"Let's make a deal then," he closed his eyes trying to keep his composure. "I'll sleep on the futon, and you'll keep the shirt."


	13. The First Date

**13: The First Date**

Sakura felt surprised when Sasuke first suggested the deal. She could tell he was slightly nervous because his ears were slightly red, but his words were firm and certain. She knew that he would never be blunt enough to ask her to be his girlfriend. In a way, he managed to ask a question without using any direct words.

She knew well that he was all about action without having the need to voice his own feelings. She knew how important the preposition was because it wasn't just any shirt. It was the shirt that carried the symbol of his family.

The large shirt almost seemed like a dress on her since it extended half way down her tights, and the sleeves slightly covered her elbows. Under the shirt, she had her wrappings around her chest, and her signature black shorts to keep her warmer during the night. Sasuke didn't seem bothered by the cold while being shirtless, since he was calmly fumbling through his belongings in the corner of the room. From inside his bag, he pulled out a neatly folded long sleeve shirt - it seemed to be his last one. "Tomorrow we should be heading out, just leave your stuff packed up," he announced while he neatly organized everything back in place.

"Sure, I will do it in the morning before I head out."

Travelling light did have its advantages and disadvantages. For one it meant less weight to carry around while on the other hand, it meant that Sasuke had to wash his clothes every few days depending on the type of work he did.

He shot a glance towards the neat pile of dirty clothes he left in the corner of the room while he sat on the futon beside Sakura - he was going to take care of it sometime in the next morning. He planned to occupy himself by doing work around the village while Sakura had an appointment with her patients- it would be their own way of repaying the kindness that the villagers had shown him in the past. Sasuke knew that there weren't many places that he could stay or even liked to stay.

When he was still lost in his own thoughts, Sakura broke the comforting silence between them while she laid her head on the pillow. "How did you come to be so fond of this place in particular, Sasuke?" she asked with a voice hinting intense curiosity. She knew that Sasuke did not get attached to strangers enough to warrant him to return to any specific place.

After a silent pause, Sasuke nodded absentmindedly before he laid down on his back, staring at the ceiling. It was true that during his travels he found it hard to openly trust anybody. He had encountered so many petty requests of help that it was just easier to ignore them all. However, the only exception towards this village was that they had taken him in when he most needed a place to rest and recharge. They had never asked him for anything in return, nor they had asked about his life in particular. "I was lost... I wandered for several days in a dimension where there was no light. It was completely dark all the time. I had to wait until my eyes recharged before I could come back…"

Sasuke didn't want her to get worried about him, because he knew that she definitely would. He omitted the fact that he continued to wander until he felt a deep sense of regret - he felt as if he was never coming back. After a few days, despite having gone through all his food reserves, his eyes had recharged enough to the point that he was able to reopen another portal and managed to return to their dimension. He eventually stumbled into Kida who offered him something to eat and drink.

Quietly, Sakura moved closer and put her arm around him, hugging him tightly. "I am glad you're back."

* * *

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to." Sasuke reiterated the moment Sakura woke up and with a large yawn, she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. A long line awaited outside Kida's house with several villagers eagerly awaiting medical attention.

"This is my job," she replied while she organized her belongings back in place. Once everything looked right to her, she fastened her kunai belt, medical supplies pouch, and grabbed her side bag off the floor. She was intrigued as to what the health situation was in smaller towns. The more she understood, the easier it would be to bring the issue with Kakashi and convince him that funding this program was necessary to set an example with other villages. "It's not any different from what I do back home," she continued before she closed the door behind her.

While Sakura left the room, Sasuke covered his eyes with his arm before he got up as well to get dressed. By the time he got out of the bedroom and walked towards the kitchen, Sakura seemed to have left the house already and the line that was waiting for her was also gone.

"Good morning," Kida said while he placed some fresh fruit on the table, besides the rice, eggs, and miso. "Your girlfriend has already left with the people who were waiting outside. She should capitalize on her trade - lots of medics have made a fortune after the war. I'm surprised you're still a farmer."

Sitting down at the table, Sasuke replied with an evenly "Ah," before closed his eyes and added, "I never said I was a farmer."

"What? But- you appeared just as the neighboring farming village went through that blight...In fact, you were the very last one to show up and you looked like you hadn't eaten for days. I guess it's our fault we never questioned...I am glad you weren't a bandit or else we would have been screwed," Kida replied in surprise as he sat down to eat.

As usual, Sasuke didn't feel like talking much and just wanted to get the morning over with. Sasuke had done a few D Rank farming missions as Genin, so doing basic work was nothing new for him. At first, when he had left the Hidden Leaf he didn't miss those D Rank missions since he felt that they were a waste of time - he wasn't learning any new techniques. However, he eventually learned the value of doing hard work. It wasn't for skill building...it was character building.

The food wasn't plentiful but nonetheless, it was fresh and Sasuke was very thankful for it. The small basket of fruit that was placed in front of him, reminded him of the first time he had sat at that table - famished, and tired.

"So…" Kida began when he noticed that Sasuke was being quiet as usual. "I will get going now, I will be back later. Help yourself to anything you need," Kida continued before he grabbed an apple and took a bite of it.

Looking up, Sasuke nodded before he decided to ask, "Is there anything you need today? We will be heading out by nightfall."

"Absolutely not," Kida said just before he left the kitchen. "We finished the work yesterday and you are also a guest here... don't expect to be doing much more. You and your girlfriend have already done so much for us."

Soon after, Sasuke heard the front door close from the kitchen as Kida left the house. Even though he did plan to help out during the day until Sakura's work was done, he just had to wait it out and do something else.

Once he was done eating breakfast, he got up and tidied up the kitchen before he went back to his room to pack up and get the laundry. The neat pile still sat by the wall, and the clothes weren't even that soiled anyways. It wouldn't take him long to get everything washed and cleaned so that he would have a fresh new set of clothes before heading with Sakura to their next destination.

* * *

The village was quiet when Sasuke left Kida's house with his belongings. It was still early morning and the kids seemed to have gone off to school, while the parents could be seen working around the village. He had the pile of clothes stacked under his arm, ready to get washed.

Sasuke took the shortest route to the outskirts of the village, walking at a steady pace. He had always liked going on walks, which allowed him time to think. He quietly wondered how long it would take Sakura to be done with her work before they could head out. He didn't plan on staying put in that village for too long since they seemed to be doing fine on their own. Even though there was no sign of threats, Sasuke still remained alert for any signs of unwanted visitors.

One hour later, Sasuke reached the waterfall and the view was noticeably nicer during the day. He dropped the pile of clothes inside a small pool that was formed by the waterfall and he let them soak. The weather was quite hot, and he desperately needed a sip of water and a bit of shade. With a heavy sigh, he sat down and rested his arm on his knee, while he stared at some insects hovering just above the water. He wanted to start his training as soon as possible, but he also needed the extra chakra to properly practice.

He moved the hair out of his face so that he could clearly see with his Rinnegan eye. Staring at a short distance, he intently focused on the space in front of him, until a dark portal appeared. The other side was completely dark, and Sasuke had no idea what laid beyond him...he had no intention of crossing it since it would make him spend more energy. At that point, all he wanted to do was to understand and control where each and every portal would open to, and how to keep track of them.

After keeping the portal open for a few minutes, Sasuke's eyes started to hurt from the strain, which forced him to abort his plans. He was panting from the physical exertion when a sweat bead began to run down his temple. He quickly wiped it with the back of his hand, while he tried to slow his breathing down.

Exhausted, Sasuke laid on his back covering his eyes with his arm. The grass below him was prickly, but he didn't care at all. He had wasted too much chakra and had achieved nothing in exchange. All he knew was that he just could not afford to open another portal today unless he received help.

Sasuke got up to finish washing his clothes once he was well rested. They had been soaking for quite some time, which helped cut down the washing time. One by one, he neatly hung each piece on the tree branches.

The sun was almost above his head when he heard Sakura approaching from the distance, "Hey Sasuke, are you there? It's me."

He looked over his shoulder and Sakura's soft pink hair contrasted off the greenery around her. Her eyes were a shade lighter than the leaves but nonetheless, they gave off a shine of their own the moment she saw him.

The moment she stepped off the bushes, she noticed his inquisitive look and knew that he was wondering how everything went. "Everyone has been attended to, nothing urgent. It would be more interesting if there was a clinic set up closer to here, instead of them having to travel a full day to get help."

Sasuke noticed that she looked somewhat tired but decided not to comment about it. He felt tired himself when he felt a small hunger pang.

"Oh, I brought you lunch," Sakura pulled out two bento boxes wrapped in a cloth. "One of my patients made it for us. I brought some fresh fruit and vegetables too for our trip." When she placed down the food, she could tell that he had been practicing his jutsu while he was waiting for her.

"Thanks," he replied grabbing one of the boxes and sitting down with it. The food was packed in small compartments with some rice, soup, and fish. "Do you wanna go to that lookout tomorrow?"

"Eh?" Sakura mumbled surprised while she could feel her face beginning to burn. "I'd love to," she smiled gently.

By the time they were done eating lunch, Sakura sat beside Sasuke and leaned against the tree trunk while she soaked her feet in a small pool formed by the waterfall. The early afternoon breeze was nice and the trees provided plenty of shade.

"I'm ready whenever you are Sasuke," Sakura began. "I still have plenty of chakra to lend you." She felt guilty that she had to go and spend time with her patients first while he waited for her. She still wanted to be there for him, regardless of how much chakra she had left.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke looked at her. He still felt tired from the physical exertion, and if he didn't have the extra chakra, his eyes would probably take some extra time to recharge. He needed to learn everything about this technique before he could find a more suitable use for it. Until now it just seemed to be a jutsu similar to Obito's...except that he wasted chakra when doing it, and his cooldown was much longer. Obito, on the other hand, didn't have any of those issues.

"Yes, stay here," she got up and moved right behind him, "It is easier to transfer chakra this way." Placing her hands on his shoulders, she took a deep breath. She was definitely not planning to use her Byakugou chakra...that was only for emergencies.

Slowly, Sasuke felt the chakra trickle into him again until he felt his energy returning. "I'm ready," he signaled while he moved the hair out of his left eye once again. He had a rough idea of how his ability worked, but he had to confirm it for himself. He concentrated for a short time in front of him until a dark circle spun in front of him. It was so much easier to do this with borrowed chakra, and pathways where Sakura was pouring in chakra were much closer to his eyes. Once the circle was large enough, Sasuke cut off the technique, and the portal instantly closed.

"Sasuke," Sakura said while keeping her grip on him, "I'm not sure if this will help in any way, but I have noticed at least two essential components in this. One is the length of time and depth each portal has. The farther the dimension, the longer it takes for the technique to be executed. The other thing I noticed is that the number of people has to be limited according to your chakra and skill level."

Sasuke quietly deliberated what she had just told him. Most of the things she explained to him made sense, but the practice was different from theory and he had to apply what she had told him until he could do it seamlessly.

During the second try, Sasuke tried to leave the portal open for longer. While he practiced, Sakura said nothing and concentrated diligently while her hands still rested on his shoulders. There was so much that he needed to practice still until he mastered it. He could hear the slight panting behind him, and by just looking backward at her he could tell that he had borrowed a large amount of chakra in just that one instance. He wanted to say something but knew that she would refuse to stop.

After several tries, he felt her grip getting weaker and weaker but she never complained. Peeking backward, he saw that she now had her eyes closed and it seemed as if she was extremely exhausted. "Sakura, you -"

Before he could finish his sentence she began to fall forward over him, when he turned back and instantly caught her mid-fall. Slowly, he leaned her back against a trunk - she was completely passed out. He had practiced more in that one afternoon than he had since he had discovered his other Rinnegan ability.

Sasuke brushed his hand against her forehead, moving her hair out of her face. For some odd reason he felt completely energized while he expected to be exhausted at this point. He sat beside her and allowed her head to rest against his shoulder.

The only sound he could hear that afternoon was of the waterfall and her steady breathing. He looked down at her and thought how amusing it was that someone so tiny compared to him could pack so much strength and wits, and at the same time look so vulnerable sleeping on his shoulder.

It was still mid-afternoon when Sakura woke up and looked up to see where she was sleeping against. "Oh, I'm sorry I must've passed out," she got up and stretched her arms out. "I feel good as new," she swung a fist in the air.

"Don't push yourself," Sasuke looked up and replied sternly, before he continued with a smirk, "You should be the last one to pass out."

"Ha ha," Sakura turned away from him and laughed nervously, while her face began to burn. She knew she had overdone herself. He was right about that, but there was no imminent danger for her to be extra cautious. With her hands still shaking, she started collecting the clothes in front of her folding one by one and placing them inside her travel pouch.

With a bit of hesitation Sasuke looked away slightly flustered, "So... there's still time to go to that lookout," while he got up and dusted off his clothes. "Unless you wanna spend the night here before we go somewhere else tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Sakura had just finished putting their clothes away - he had washed hers as well. She looked back at him and her eyes immediately shone, "I'd...love to go…" So he was inviting her on a date...in his own way. "Are we going to make it before sunset? The town is about two hours away." she wondered loudly.

"I know a shortcut there. Walking will take less than thirty minutes if we go this way," he said while pointing past the mountain range.

Sakura was still rooted to the spot, when Sasuke beckoned her to walk over to him. He silently observed her reaction to his invitation with a grin when she began to clumsily head his way with a surprised look on her face.

"If you continue to walk like that you're going to fall."

* * *

A little over thirty minutes later, both had gone over the mountain range and then down hill until they reached the outskirts of a small town that was situated near a lookout. The closer they got to the town, the longer the smell of the ocean pierced their senses with the fresh aroma of the sea.

Sakura felt awestruck as they approached the place where Sasuke had meant to bring her to. At the very end of the sand path that they walked on, there was a lone wooden bench that was placed a few metres from the edge of a precipice that faced a sapphire blue sea.

Nonchalantly, Sasuke sat down first and waited until Sakura took in the sights in front of her. When she turned back and walked towards him, she noticed he was silently observing her.

Quietly she sat beside him before she whispered, "This place is beautiful." Before she shifted on her seat to face him instead of the view.

After a quiet pause he agreed by slowly nodding his head, before his eyes met hers once again. Her face was so close to his, that he could count all the lashes in her eyes.

She closed her eyes and began to slowly close in the distance between them before she stopped and without a word she looked surprised.

She felt a sense of deja vu that she could not understand why. She had never been on a date with Sasuke and she had never been in this particular place before - so she didn't understand why she felt this way. For some reason she couldn't understand how she felt as if she had been in a similar situation before. When was last time they sat near each other this way? Sasuke had been gone for so long that it could not have been possible after he had left the village.

Then, out of nowhere the realization hit her, and she blurted out, "That one time...on the first day we had our teams formed...we sat just like this and we almost kissed before you ran somewhere..."

Before she could continue her story Sasuke interrupted her. "What?" he leaned back surprised at what she was trying to tell him. He wasn't there. What was she talking about? Many things had happened that day and one of them definitely didn't involve him sitting on a bench with her. Then he remembered vividly that Naruto had attacked him by surprise and tied him up while taking his appearance…

Sasuke brought up his fist, resting it against his lips while he was trying to hide his reaction. "So that's what it was for," he mumbled out with a furrowed brow, before he got up and began to walk slowly away from the bench until he stopped to take in the view in front of him. That damn Naruto...was impersonating him to get a kiss out of her.

There was something Sasuke wasn't telling her. What could have actually happened? She remembered that day he had left and after a few minutes he came back acting completely different. She remembered her insensitive remark about Naruto, and how bitter his reaction was. In retrospect she did deserve it though…it was a wake up call that was long coming her way.

Back to the present, Sakura found herself sitting at that bench while Sasuke turned around and offered his hand to her, "We should set camp before it gets dark," he said breaking the silence with a gentle look on his face.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked anxiously dreading the answer.

"Hm?"

"It wasn't you that day was it?"

"No."

She didn't have to ask him the rest of it. She immediately understood by his reaction what had happened. Calmly, she got up and took his hand and instantly all of her worries were gone. It was as if the way he was feeling was somehow transmitted to her. That small action spoke louder than the speed date they had been in - she realized that she didn't need any of this, what they felt for each other was much more.

Whatever had happened in the past didn't matter anymore.


	14. One

**14: One**

Sakura understood why it took Sasuke so long to come home. At that point, they could immediately point to any direction and head that way without worrying about a set schedule. That was the taste of freedom that they both could enjoy together.

They silently walked together while the nightfall slowly descended upon them. They headed south - away from the small town by the sea and into a new direction this time. The weather was favorable to sleep outside, so they didn't feel compelled to set up camp immediately. Keeping to herself, she could not help but steal glances at him as they walked. She could feel her face slightly burning at the mere sight of him in front of her.

By the time they stopped walking, they unanimously picked a camping spot by a river stream, while they could only see each other's outline in the darkness. Despite hiding his left eye behind copious amounts of hair, it still emitted a faint ominous dark purple glow.

Sasuke's eyes were now well adjusted to the darkness to the point that he had a good spatial awareness around him. Even though he knew exactly where his travel companion was standing, he could not make out what her facial expression was. He figured she was tired - but she never uttered a word of complaint.

The night was not cold enough to cause discomfort, but a fire was a nice idea either way. Sakura set her belongings by a tree and then she gathered some dry leaves, branches and some other flammable materials for their campfire. Looking up, she searched for Sasuke in the darkness and she could not find him immediately - he was probably giving the area a quick scout. She touched the ground with her fingertips and she could only detect him in the vicinity. Once she sensed that he was returning, she called out, "Sasuke, it's ready for the fire please," she chuckled happily.

He pointed his head where he heard her calling from. "Ah right," he replied smirking - he knew well what she was referencing to. Back in the day during the chunin exams, he was busy pestering Naruto when she called out for him to light up the campfire. It seemed like an eternity had passed between now and then, and there were several things that hadn't changed about him. It was still funny to pester Naruto, while he never thought it through that he did have a sense of duty and protection towards her. Now that he had traveled alone and his mind was cleared of everything that had plagued him for years, it was much more obvious who his priority was now.

* * *

Two weeks after the beginning of their mission, they reached southernmost tip of the continent and decided to head west towards the Land of Fire. They weren't in a rush to go anywhere in particular until the week they were supposed to resume their mission. At their fastest pace, a couple of days' worth of travel was comparable to a week at a slower pace.

Despite being so comfortable with each other's presence, in public, they refrained from holding hands and being acknowledged as a couple. They never truly discussed it, and they never had to since their mutual understanding went beyond words. They preferred it that way since it was their form of avoiding unwelcome attention. Sasuke was extremely private about his feelings and Sakura respected it.

He always practiced in the morning and afternoon while Sakura supported him with extra chakra. By then she had grown accustomed with the great exertion and she would rarely faint. Interestingly enough, helping him also allowed her to increase her chakra expenditure she had lost over long hours on paperwork at the hospital.

One morning after their daily routine, Sasuke finally understood why he had been stuck for a long time in one dimension where it was completely dark. All he knew so far was that there were six dimensions where Kaguya had easily shifted during the war, and the main dimension allowed Sasuke to reach the other five using less chakra. His mistake was trying to reach one of the other five dimensions without going through the main one, and his overconfidence once again got the best of him. He had incorrectly performed the technique just before his eyes once again needed recharging, and in the end, his body wasn't in either place.

By repeatedly opening portals to all six dimensions, he was able to understand which ones required more chakra and which ones required less. Trying to categorize them by name, the best names he could come up with were physical characteristics of each apart from the main connecting dimension: Lava, Ice, Sand, Gravity, and Acid.

He had been in almost all of them during the war, but he didn't dare to venture in the acid dimension. What could live and survive there anyway? He had seen the results of it on Sakura's arm - the second-degree chemical burn she experienced instantly darkened her skin. Sasuke thought out loud while grabbing his chin, "Would there be more out there apart from these six?"

"Huh?" Sakura was preparing miso soup for lunch and was surprised at his calm remark. She knew that he was trying to make sense of how useful this technique could be and it was important that he was taking everything one step at a time.

"Nothing," Sasuke dismissed his own thoughts while bringing his attention back to Sakura. "You should put those tomatoes in that," he said while pointing to the neat pile of fruits and vegetables that they had placed in their campsite.

She hesitated to answer him at first, she was unsure of how it would taste. Adding tomatoes to the soup could potentially ruin it, but on the bright side, she would be adding a healthy ingredient in. She was a doctor after all… and naturally, she had to defend healthy eating.

"Alright," she bit her lip trying to hold back her laugh while trying to shield her face with her hair. She reached to the pile of fruits and vegetables they had earned a few days before after helping some villagers, and she was surprised when Sasuke only picked tomatoes when there were lots of other options...

After inspecting all of the tomatoes she noticed some of them had begun to go bad but were still edible for the most part. "Too bad the rest of these tomatoes went bad, they are extremely soft now. I think we might have to get rid of them," she grabbed one and poked the side of it. She selected a couple of tomatoes who only needed to be slightly cleaned and she cut it in small pieces while leaving the refuse aside. "Do you want me to add the tomatoes before or after I pull it out of the fire?"

"After please," he replied without thinking twice. "Keeps the flavor."

Once she pulled the soup pot off the fire, she added the tomato pieces into the miso soup and handed him a bowl. She decided to give his invention a try while she served herself one as well...it could taste good after all.

He was halfway done his soup by the time he noticed that she had just begun to take the first sip. He knew that she didn't seem too excited about the odd addition to the lunch, but either way, it was for his sake. He noticed that she seemed to have no problem drinking the soup since it was out of a makeshift bowl. The only problem was how was she going to eat the tomatoes pieces left behind since miso soup was eaten without spoons anyway.

Sakura tried to tilt the bowl towards her face and the tomatoes never budged from their spot. "Come on," she said with a hint of frustration in her voice. She knew he was watching her reaction from the corner of his eye, and she was beginning to feel impatient with her unsuccessful attempt. She tried giving the bowl one last hit in the back when the tomatoes flopped all over her face.

She picked the tomatoes off her face, but she couldn't feel annoyed in the least bit once Sasuke began laughing beside her. He wasn't exactly laughing at her, he was laughing because he was just simply happy.

Grabbing a tomato off the pile they were bringing with them, Sakura stared at it with a mischievous look on her face before she squished it in her hands. "SHANNAROOOO," she tossed it towards Sasuke who was still busy laughing.

With his guard completely down, the tomato hit Sasuke on the side of the head and Sakura began to giggle immediately. He wasn't sure what she had tossed at him at first, but once he brought his hand to touch his head he felt a wet glob slowly slide down his head. Stunned, he felt the whole thing begin dripping off his head before he grabbed it and finally realized what she had thrown at him. In revenge, he threw the destroyed tomato back at her. If she wanted a war, she got herself one.

"No!" noticing the incoming attack, she ran behind a tree while she could still observe his reaction. Meanwhile, Sasuke calmly took the chance to wash the tomato off his hair before he took the chance to grab extra ammunition. His hand was big enough to hold a few tomatoes at a time, and if he protected the perimeter around the ammunition, he could have much more at his disposal.

He got up and slowly began to walk towards where she had run off. Seeing that he was closing in made her giggle while almost missing her steps as she ran away. He tried to seize the opportunity by attacking her while she ran away.

"Come back here," he tried to sound innocent while he activated his Sharingan as soon as she dodged one of the projectiles aimed at her.

"No cheating," she yelled out laughing the moment she noticed he was very serious about getting a solid hit on her. She wasn't going to make it any easier for him by allowing him to use his Sharingan - she hated losing as much as everyone else. She could tell that the way he was trying to pursue her also protected the camp's perimeter...she would have to be really smart about sneaking back to grab more ammunition.

The wooded area allowed their game to go on for a while, while she made herself undetectable before she chose a spot to hide in. She could feel his presence at first until she noticed that he had also made himself undetectable. She brought her hands up to her lips, trying to hold her breath and laughter in. She knew she was going to get showered in tomato juice if he found her.

Once she regained her composure, she tried to sharpen her senses to feel any alterations in the environment around her. The wind blew softly around her but she noticed nothing different. She brought her ear against the ground and she could feel faint steps that were almost undetectable approaching her. She could not afford to come out of her spot - Sasuke was at a great advantage.

Sasuke knew she had run off in a certain direction before she hid her chakra signature. He did the same in response, hoping that she would surrender. He walked slowly while he scanned all of his surroundings. He was the predator, she was the prey.

Stepping very carefully out of her hiding spot, Sakura began to circle back to the camp, while making sure that it was safe to do so. With each step, she made sure she avoided any dry leaves or fallen branches - it would definitely give her position away. When she was almost at the camp perimeter, she noticed that she had stepped over a thin line that was barely visible to the naked eye. She wasn't expecting him to have set any traps around, but the thin line was definitely going to give her position away. "Damn," she swore under her breath.

She felt his chakra signature flare up the moment she set her foot back down. He was coming back fast, and she had to react accordingly.

He knew exactly where she was. He had put down some traps around the camp that would warn him the moment she tried to head back. It was just a waiting game for him. When he reached the spot where she had stepped on his trap, he noticed her gathering speed to make her escape.

Trying to predict her direction without the Sharingan, he aimed and tossed a tomato just ahead of her and right after he gestured a jutsu with his free hand. She would definitely have to make a choice whether to go left or right.

Sakura sensed that he had thrown something in her direction. Half turning around, she noticed the tomato projectile just before it struck her. She reached out and grabbed it, tossing it back at him immediately, when she noticed that a second tomato was hidden right behind the first one. Her body was in an awkward position midair and she didn't have any time to react, she placed her arms defensively around her face seconds before she got hit.

He was not expecting her to escape his double tomato jutsu so fast since he wanted to hit her at least one more time. He grinned with satisfaction when at least half of his plan worked when she disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a log appeared instead.

At once, she reappeared right behind him and she tried to tackle to get the last tomato out of him. The momentum of her attack and his surprise made them both awkwardly crash against each other where they rolled a few meters down a hill. Instinctively, he wrapped his arm around her to shield her from the ground.

Still holding her protectively, he ended up with his back against the bare ground once they stopped rolling. Stunned and trying to understand what had just happened, they both laughed in unison until they were out of breath. The laughter and the physical closeness gave way to something much deeper that they had been harboring for each other.

Her cheek was still against his chest when she propped herself up to look at him. There was a wolflike sharpness behind his eyes this time - it was something that they could no longer hold from each other. He had noticed her way before they left the village, how she walked and moved a certain way. When she walked by him, a soft scent would linger. He knew he couldn't mix his personal feelings with the mission, but once that was put on hold, the dynamic between them did change. It was just...her...there with him...and not a single worry in the world.

He had to push his building anxiety away while letting his instincts take over when he gently rolled her off of him and laid his body against hers. Kiss me, she thought tilting her chin up with anticipation while all she could hear was his shallow breath. Their lips met immediately with a passion and intensity they had never experienced before, while her hands clutched his hair keeping him locked against her.

She enjoyed feeling his weight against her, while a shiver ran through her body and settled at her core. Her hands hungered for more and she pried his shirt off in one movement, while he broke the kiss and buried his face in her hair with a low growl in his throat. His eyes were shut tight while all his senses were heightened. The soft scent that came off her hair and skin was slowly driving him to the edge.

He could no longer hold back and he began to unbutton her dress in response. Three buttons stood just below her collarbone and were pried open easily. Once her dress came off, she shrugged it off while she continued kissing him. Slowly, he unfastened the bindings that eventually rolled off her body. At no moment she showed any hesitation or anxiety for that moment...she had made up her mind long ago. His hands became acquainted with the curves of her body...and at each spot he touched, her reaction was different.

She lightly nipped his shoulder before she took the initiative to remove the rest of his clothes. As she slowly helped him off his clothes, she would touch a different spot, kiss a different place. Her tongue trailed on his defined abdomen and his chest, and back to his neck.

The small break from each other wasn't enough to wane their desire. In a natural reflex, her legs wrapped around him with a rhythm of its own while it encouraged him even more.

For a few seconds he stared at her and she looked back at him. They were going to take a big step in their lives at that moment. It wasn't just the act itself - it also meant their future together. He held no desire to be with anyone else but her.

He once again buried his face in her hair and gave her neck a soft kiss when he began lowering himself on her. The initial pain made a soft gasp escape her lips, while she ran her fingers through his hair - clasping it tightly. He held himself still while he waited for her body's response. It took all of his will to do so before he continued moving again.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, kneading her smooth skin under his touch. She quivered under him and arched her back in response, while pressed into him. Her nails began to dig in his back and make red patterns on his skin. With his mouth, he began to explore her body. From her neck, he slowly went down, nipping and kissing along the way, while he felt amused at her reaction. Of all the things they had done so far, this seemed to make her the shiest. She bit the back of her hand and had her eyes shut tight, while he continued to tease her. The only sound that came from her mouth was her shaky breath.

The first beads of sweat began to gather on the sides of his temple and lower back while he maintained a steady pattern. His lips trailed on the side of her neck until he found her earlobe. The tickling sensation was mixed with one of pleasure. In response, she shut her eyes and the steady build-up made her body stiffer and stiffer until she could no longer hold on to reality, letting herself go. He could feel her body squeezing around him for several waves before she froze completely. Her reaction took him by surprise which he could no longer hold the pent-up pressure and energy within. He increased his momentum for one last time before his body began to tingle, his muscles contracted and his mind went numb.

She was still immobile under him, when he reached up and grazed his fingertips against the side of her lips, cheek and her forehead. She lightly moaned in response, and a small smile escaped his lips before he rolled off of her and dozed off.

It was mid-afternoon when Sakura woke up with Sasuke's prying kisses against her neck. When she opened her eyes, she noticed he had covered her with his travel cape. She turned around and through her half-closed lids, she saw a serious look on his face. A pleasurable spasm ran through her pelvis and she surrendered herself to him again.

The sun was just beginning to set when he covered her shoulders with his travel cloak and they walked back to their camp. They both desperately needed to get cleaned up -

By the time they reached their camp, the fire had already gone out and only red glowing embers could be seen amongst the grey dust. Sakura didn't feel as awkward being around him while being naked when her mind brought her vivid flashbacks of that afternoon...

The cold water from the river soon brought her an uncomfortable shiver forcing her to get out of the water.

Farther off from their camp, Sasuke had gone ahead and washed off quickly as well. The water was too cold for a long soak and he didn't want to wait long enough to get accustomed to the temperature. Stepping out of the water, he dried himself quickly and got dressed before he glanced back towards the camp and saw Sakura grinning about something. He wondered what that was all about, but in a way, he felt as if he knew the answer.


	15. A Rock in the Desert

**Chapter 15: A Rock in the Desert**

"You should've seen your face, you were so outraged," Sakura giggled as she recalled the fated tomato fight between them.

With a side stare and a grunt, Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked before he reached out to her and ruffled her hair. That was the least he could do to get back at her...she had been very sneaky when she first attacked him with the tomato and the whole situation itself was too funny to reminisce with a straight face.

He had never been in a food fight before even when he was a kid since he was too busy trying to get out of Itachi's shadow. With Team Seven though, he did enjoy a few moments that frequently made him forget his dark past and his empty future.

Going back to the present, Sasuke realized how grateful he was for having made the bonds he so desperately tried to destroy.

* * *

The couple had been travelling together for a few weeks now, and they had decided to head to the Hidden Sand Village after spending a few days in a smaller nation in between the Land of Fire and Wind. The journey towards the scorching desert - a journey that would take about two days going at a fairly moderate speed, was relatively safe.

With each step, the trees and green foliage around them became sparser and sparser while they collected enough water and supplies along the way. Once they were satisfied with their supplies, they headed west until the sand began invading their shoes, and the scorching hot sun seemed to be more overbearing than usual.

Sakura had done this journey several times, but everytime it still seemed like a challenge. She had discussed it a few times with Sasuke about her work in neighboring villages and how Gaara had decided to adopt her program. The idea had been well received by some, while scorned by others - delaying the timeline she had established for the program.

Judging by how long it took Gaara to contact Sakura about the inauguration, she figured that he had faced a lot of resistance along the way - just like Kakashi had back home.

Either way, it was another victory for her and it would also add credibility to future idealizations - like setting up smaller medical clinics within a certain distance between communities so that the villagers wouldn't have to travel several days at a time to find medical help.

* * *

Just a few days before, Sakura had received a message early morning - the hawk had flown in several circles before it landed in front of her with a note attached on its leg. At first she thought it would be her parents sending her a message to see if she was fine. But in the end she knew that they would never do such a thing since it could potentially ruin a mission if she was caught at the wrong time.

If it wasn't her parents it could've been Naruto - and Naruto honestly had never been the stealthiest person when it came to contacting somebody at inappropriate times.

Once she freed the small piece of paper, she opened up to find a simple message scribbled in between. _Congratulations, Suna will officially adopt the clinic_ \- followed by a date that was less than a week away.

A building excitement made her scream out of joy as she stretched her arms upwards. Everything that she had wished for so long was now coming together.

Sasuke looked over inquistively from the corner of his eye as he got up from his spot and walked over to see what the message was all about.

Before he could peek over Sakura's shoulder, she turned around and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, surprising him.

Startled, at her sudden reaction, a deep shade of red creeped his face. "Sakura wait," he said before she stepped back and held the piece of paper for him to read.

* * *

Last time Sakura was in Suna, she had spent less than half a day there before she and Ino left - and for good reason. There was a Sasuke impersonator around and even though she had spent a productive amount of time at the village, she knew that there were more important matters at hand.

Since she was one of the people who idealized the project, it was important for her to be there during the inauguration - not going was completely out of question. She figured that Kakashi would know that she would head out for the inauguration without replying back to him. Some things just didn't have to be said.

It was an amazing feeling to see ideas that were once in paper to become reality. She spent hours studying her idea and figuring out how she would present it, not only to her own nation, but to others as well.

There were many obstacles she had to overcome - budgeting for one was important especially for nations who were still recuperating from the post war period. Second were the cultural differences which she had to respect and understand, especially when advisors were usually made up of older and wiser shinobis - the kind that were less susceptible to allow a change in status quo.

Running at a decent pace, they would arrive there soon enough and be able to rest. Sakura could feel the sweat gathering at the small of her back, while the sand unpleasantly pooled inside her shoes. There was no point in clearing it out until they stopped for a break.

Eventually they took a break at a large rock that offered plenty of shade. Sakura wiped her brow with the back of her glove before she set her bag down. There was something odd… She had done this route several times and she had never seen this rock before.

She grabbed her water bottle and before she could have the first sip, she handed the bottle over to Sasuke without looking sideways - but there was no response...Sasuke didn't grab the bottle from her. She looked around and he was suddenly gone. None of this made sense to her until she brought her hands together to dispel any possible disturbance in her chakra.

The large rock that was just behind her began to disappear as the jutsu got dispelled. As soon as she brought her hands down, she reached down for a kunai that was holstered against her thigh. According to her own mental math, she shouldn't have been longer than five seconds in that genjutsu before she noticed something was odd. The heat definitely didn't help with her reaction time.

Looking around, she located Sasuke and noticed his sharingan was activated and had his katana readied for an attack.

"Show yourself now," he demanded. Sasuke could barely sense the enemy, but he scanned the area with his eyes and could count at least 10 people around them. These people were definitely not amateurs.

Keeping her guard up and kunai in hand, she lowered her stance and shifted towards Sasuke. Whoever was out there was watching them, studying them before they made a move.

"They are not regular ninja," one of them could be heard. "They dispelled your genjutsu way too fast."

"One of them is definitely a missing nin from the leaf... you take the medic," another voice could be heard around them.

It was true, Sasuke still wore his old headband strapped on his waist and that would've been the only time the enemy could have gotten a good read on him. Either way, he felt puzzled as to why they were getting attacked in the middle of the desert … were they targeting travellers and weaker ninja? What were they after?

"Nobody is going to be 'taking me'," Sakura looked around and it was just desert everywhere. Where could they be hiding? Her best guess was that they were camouflaged in the sand just waiting for the right moment to attack.

They were both at a disadvantage. They did not consume any water for the past few hours in order to conserve their reserves. Sasuke tried to dry swallow and nothing helped soothe his parched throat. Sakura wasn't in a good position either. She was extremely thirsty and punching the sand was out of the question. There was just too much sand everywhere and releasing a massive amount of chakra into the sand would possibly liquefy it - making the whole situation unnecessarily dangerous.

By Sasuke's reaction, she could tell that he had already spotted all of the enemies around them. She had fought alongside him way too many times. Just one steady breath outwards and he was ready to attack.

A kunai with a paper bomb was thrown from one of the dunes and quickly headed their direction. The strategy was way too obvious - they would either defend it and leave an opening or they would have to jump in opposite directions in order to avoid the explosion. They were being tested.

Sasuke shot her a side look, ' _they are this way'_ was his way of telling her the enemy's position. Before the paper bomb reached them, Sakura broke into a forward sprint, while Sasuke moved out of the way from the kunai's trajectory.

She knew exactly how she was going to uproot the enemy from their hiding spot. If she couldn't punch the sand, she was going to punch the air - releasing her chakra into it. In theory it would probably work - the area of effect would send a shockwave several metres in front of her.

As she dashed forward, two more kunais flew her way. She used her own kunai to divert the attacks aimed at her, while she gathered a large amount of chakra on her right fist. If they were surrounded, her attack would most likely some of the ambushing group.

Once she had a good momentum and enough chakra collected in her fist, Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, before she swung her fist forward.

The radius for the punch was larger than if she had punched the ground instead. The air definitely offered less resistance to her attack, and the attack itself would help her locate the camouflaged enemies. A large gust of wind that originated when she swung her fist, flattened all of the sand dunes in front of her while several grunts could be heard.

At that moment she dashed off, Sasuke turned around and ran towards the enemies that were hiding on the opposite side. An explosion could be heard from the place where the kunai with the paper bomb had landed.

With his katana in hand, he jumped towards the enemies that were still invisible to the naked eye, he noticed that his action had put the enemies on edge. He could tell they were a group of professionals - they all wore uniforms with well equipped vests.

The moment Sasuke landed nearest to one of them, the ninja leapt to his feet, and the other ones that were nearby ran towards him to attack him from behind.

Without wasting time, Sasuke ran an electric current through the sword and pierced the enemy's defence by stabbing his shoulder down against the sand. Sasuke had to be careful about conserving his chakra while handling electricity, just in case if there were reinforcements to this enemy group.

The man under him gave out a guttural screech of pain while he was immobilized, while Sasuke maintained the steady current pouring into his katana. At this point, two ninjas were just behind him, and Sasuke let go of his sword and kicked the closest one right in the chest, while the second one received a punch square in the face, making him fly back a few metres.

The last two ninjas that were waiting for an opening to attack, were unsure of how to proceed, since their enemy was much more skilled than what they had first predicted. When Sasuke turned his head, his enemies made eye contact with him and immediately fell face first into the sand unconscious.

The two ninjas he had hit with physical attacks were still down for the count, and Sasuke decided to disable them with genjutsu just in case they got up to cause more trouble.

The very last ninja was still pinned down by the katana on his shoulder. He tried to grip the blade to try and free himself, when the blood started pouring down his palm and down the blade.

Sasuke calmly walked towards the last ninja to retrieve his katana, while his eye blazed with a mismatched fury. The man under him began to grit his teeth the moment Sasuke tried to retrieve his weapon.

While Sasuke was busy trying to retrieve his weapon, Sakura was down to the last two enemies that managed to escape her area of effect attack. She stood in front of them and demanded answers before she resumed her attack. "Who are you?" she yelled out while cracking her knuckles.

"We're the Red Scorpion," said the one on the left while he tried to stall Sakura. He grabbed something in his pocket. "We're mercenaries, but when we don't have work to do we target travellers who usually carry money - for the businesses in Suna."

"Red Scorpion?" Sakura replied surprised. "So after that genjutsu attack you were planning to poison us?"

"Not necessarily, we have other means of getting the things we want. Either way, we don't have to explain ourselves to you," the one on the right replied irritably.

"Too bad we targeted the wrong couple - we weren't planning on killing war heroes," the one on the left threw something to his companion. "Eat it Kyuusen," the first one yelled while Kyuusen immediately ate a small rounded pill.

Kyuusen looked around and saw in the distance that the rest of the squad had been disabled and smirked. "Kingyu, stay out of my way," he said without looking towards his partner.

Without batting an eyelash, Sakura didn't take her eyes off the two enemies in front of her. Whatever they were up to - she didn't like it. In a natural response, she tried to swallow a second time but there was nothing. She had set down her belongings in the area way far back - where the water and food was. That wasn't good.

"You both seem extremely confident - whoever you are, you don't seem to know who you're dealing with," Sakura smirked as she heard Sasuke taking care of the enemies behind her.

"Likewise," Kyuusen said before a strange aura started to surround him.

Sakura had to do a double take of what was happening right in front of her. She had seen this before...this aura felt familiar but at the same time it was altered in ways she didn't want to think about. "It can't be…" she whispered quietly. The chakra was definitely stronger than when she had fought Kido...and it continued to grow.

Sasuke felt a sudden spike in energy and he immediately turned his head in the direction it came from - where Sakura was at. The presence felt familiar, there was no way Naruto could have been there.

"You're both dead," the man began to laugh hysterically as the blood poured down his shoulder, soaking the sand below. Sasuke had pierced just below his artery, preventing him from dying immediately.

A orange-like chakra cloak immediately enveloped the first man with a chakra structure that reminded Sakura of a nine tailed fox.

Sakura took a step back to brace herself. Her hands were just by her side, but her fingers were in a rigid position, ready to pick the first weapon most suitable to defend herself.

The energy that emanated from Kyuusen seemed to have stabilized, while he seemed to get ready to attack. His head hung low and he closed his eyes for a few seconds. He could feel his blood pumping and his heart rate increasing.

Watching his movements closely, Sakura returned his gaze until his eyes flicked towards another target.

She only had a few seconds to react and put herself in the line of attack.

In a mad dash, Kyuusen decided to attack Sasuke at the last second while he was busy disabling his teammates.

That split second was all Sakura needed to jump in the way of the attack to prevent Sasuke from getting hit. Kyuusen reached Sakura within seconds and with his fist raised, he aimed towards her face.

The intense pain made her face go immediately numb as she flew backwards for several seconds until she hit the sand. The strength of the attack she suffered forced her to be stuck in the sand, while it got into her mouth and eyes, making it hard to breathe. She immediately sent healing chakra towards her face to repair the damage.

Sakura tried to spit the sand off her mouth, but she remembered that her mouth was completely dry. All she could feel was the scorching hot sand burning her skin, while she couldn't breathe out.

Panic started to set in - she had used her sealed chakra to heal her wounds not too long ago when she fought against Kido... There wasn't enough to fully perform the instant healing technique.

' _Sasuke' -_ her mind echoed, forcing her to focus on the healing process. She was worried about him - he had never encountered this type of enemy before. Something wet began to run down the side of her head but she ignored it. She needed to get up.

The moment Sasuke saw Sakura get hit stirred up something inside of him. He had avoided killing anybody by deferring non-lethal blows, and by immobilizing the rest of the opponents with a genjutsu that would keep them out for a while. He knew that he shouldn't be involving his personal feelings with the current situation; but Sakura had always been an exception to this rule. She put her life on the line for him - again.

Kyuusen prepared to jump after the pink haired kunoichi, when he heard Kingyu groan right behind him. The missing-nin showed no mercy to him as he had shown the other members of his group. The stakes were now much higher.

Sasuke's mind darted around all of the possibilities of that moment and what he should do next.

If he ran to help Sakura now it would not be of much use, since the enemy now had their attention on him. He had to protect her somehow.

There was one pill making its way towards Kingyu's mouth, as an evil grin painted his face.

Kyuusen was marvelling at his own strength, while his arm was still outstretched. An orange chakra cloak still floated just above his skin.

With a greater sense of urgency and his katana in hand, Sasuke made a decision and dashed towards the man named Kingyu. A chidori stream enveloped his katana as he aimed at the man and made a swiping motion.

The electric current instantly made a deep gash on the man's hand and the pill he was about to consume got instantly destroyed.

"You piece of shit," Kingyu cursed while he clutched his hand towards his chest. "You are fucking dead, you hear me?"

The commotion took Kyuusen's attention away from himself when he noticed the wounds of his teammate. "Do I need to babysit you?" he chuckled loudly.

"I am only in this situation because I fucking let you have first dibs!"

"Doesn't mean that you have to leave yourself open to attacks," Kyuusen shot back. "I thought you were better than - hey watch out!"

Kyuusen bolted forward and grabbed his team mate just in time to protect him from Sasuke's final strike.

A short distance away, Kingyu was thrown into the sand, while Kyuusen began cracking his knuckles again. "I said it wasn't a good itea to attack these two, I told you all that I could they were skilled ninjas."

Sasuke swung his blade to clear the blood that was still running down. The blood that came off made a small elliptical shape in the stained sand.

Kyuusen readied himself to attack once again - and now that his friend was out of danger, he would not need to protect him any longer. He dug his feet in the sand in a forward motion, and then he disappeared.

' _He's fast'_ , was the only thing that ran through Sasuke's head before he activated Susanoo's defense. The rib-like structure that formed around him suddenly shattered with the strength of the attack and he flew backwards landing on his feet. If he had activated his defense just a few seconds later he would've been extremely hurt. His mind then darted back to Sakura. Where was she?

Sakura managed to get the sand out of her eyes and face once she removed her gloves. She was still trying to give it a few seconds before she could stand but for some reason, the ringing in her ear and the spinning were still bothering her. Blood began pooling in her mouth by the time she was able to spit some sand out.

After a few minutes, the ringing in her head had stabilized and she began to feel the swelling on the right side of her face. She could hear with her left ear that there was something going on back where she came from, and all she wanted to do was to step back in.

Without touching her face, she continued redirecting her chakra into the spots that had not yet been healed. It took a huge deal of concentration to do so since she needed to assess her condition first.

When she managed to stop the bleeding, the ringing and dizziness began to subside. She picked her gloves up that were buried in the sand, and she began to head back where she could feel two large presences. Her first steps faltered in the sand and she almost fell several times before she managed to get into a steady pace once again.

Sasuke could no longer hold back all of his special techniques. The man in front of him was too strong to the point that his basic Susanoo defense almost faltered the last few times he was hit.

The moment Sasuke poured more chakra into Susanoo, the avatar-like warrior grew into its strongest form.

"Well you don't see a technique like that everyday," Kyuusen looked up impressed, while he protected his eyes from the sun glare with his free hand. "Let's see how your defence handles my attacks."

The avatar reached out to attack, but Kyuusen was much faster. If Sasuke wanted to defeat him, he would have to get a solid hit on the man before he could restrain him.

From a distance, Sakura could see that Sasuke had activated Susanoo and was now fighting Kyuusen. She began to pick up her pace, when she noticed that Kingyu was just ahead of her. Her only chance was to sneak up and attack him before he noticed her.

Gathering the chakra on her fist, she made sure to make her presence undetectable.

Kingyu seemed to be taken aback as Sasuke continued to fight against Kyuusen. He seemed to have completely forgotten that Sakura was still around, and that he could be a potential target. He was sitting down on the sand in a non-combat mode, while his hands supported his body weight forward. In his hand, he clutched a small box with enough pills for his whole squad. Just before he was able to open the box to join his teammate, he heard someone running towards him in an astounding speed.

Jumping up on his feet, Kingyu tried to block the incoming attack by putting a mudwall against him and the aggressor - that would buy him a few extra seconds as he turned to run.

"You're not getting away," Sakura shouted angrily as she smashed the mudwall with one swing of her fist.

The force of the punch shattered the wall instantly while sharp shards flew in all directions, hitting Kingyu on several spots. His vest had protected him from the most dangerous shards, but his head was unprotected.

"Grrh," was all that Kingyu could utter while a large shard hit him on the side of his head, making him fall into the sand clutching the side of his head.

Sakura stood just above him while he clutched a small box with one shaky hand and the side of his head with another.

With her fist full of chakra, she swung down a punch - to keep him down once and for all. Kingyu blacked out instantly. She didn't think she had to resort to this type of attack, especially because it could kill someone.

From the distance, Sakura could see Sasuke's avatar still fighting Kyuusen. Judging the fight, she could tell that Sasuke had the upper hand, while his enemy seemed to have spent a considerable amount of chakra.

She had to stop his attack once and for all. It would be the only chance to stop the enemy before Sasuke got worn out. She circled the fight and tried to get close by avoiding the debris that flew in every direction.

Sasuke noticed that Sakura had a plan in mind the moment he saw her approach and her eyes met his gaze. He continued to keep his enemy busy, but the amount of energy that his enemy could output was beyond any human means.

After several tries, Sasuke managed to get a hold of the enemy by holding him in a tight grip. Kyuusen struggled for several seconds, but Sasuke didn't budge.

On cue, Sasuke disabled Susanoo and after a short fall, he landed on the sand with a soft tap.

Just before Kyuusen landed he declared victory. "This is it," he said smirking - right before Sakura ran up to him with her fists ready.

With a clear punch against his abdomen, Sakura shattered his defenses and immediately followed with a second punch to keep him down for good.

Kyuusen's chakra cloak extinguished itself instantly, while a good amount of blood poured out of his mouth while he gasped in pain. Trying to find his bearings, he sat up and looked at his hands and noticed that his powerup was gone.

The next second he looked up, Sasuke towered over him, with an impassive look on his face while his eye blazed red. Just one stare was all that Sasuke needed to put him down for several hours.

Right after she punched the enemy for good, Sakura sat down while she gasped for air as she clutched her throat. She had difficulty breathing still since she had only managed to completely stop the bleeding in some places. As much as she wished, she would need a lot of rest before she could even think of healing the rest of her wounds.

The sun was still beating down her back. The air was so dry that any sweat was immediately gone. It was as if she was slowly getting cooked and she couldn't do anything about it.

The blood had dried on the side of her mouth and face, and small red flakes were now chipping off.

Sasuke crouched down to check her face, and with a light touch on her chin he inspected the damage from one side to another. Sakura tried to faintly smile back when he said, "I'll be right back," with a stern face. He was in a way angry at her for taking such a hit for him - he felt directly responsible for her current condition.

Once he had grabbed their belongings that were still set far away, he placed the water bottle in her hands and waited for her to take the first sip. Sakura quietly accepted the bottle and took a few sips before she spat out reddish water. He quietly observed her, unsure how to proceed at that moment since she seemed to be in no condition to continue the last leg of the journey.

Sakura wet a cloth to clean the dry patches of blood on her face, while Sasuke took a sip of his own water to clear his throat. The water tasted heavenly, and he could feel his energy coming back as he took a few more sips to satiate his thirst.

He tried to mentally calculate how far they had to travel before arriving at their destination. They were roughly midway in their journey and there was absolutely nothing nearby apart from sand.

The other option was to take to the sky with Susanoo, but Sasuke was unsure if he could fly the necessary distance with his current amount of chakra and not attract any more unwanted attention. He was tired - there was no doubt about that - but unlike Sakura, he was unhurt.

Sasuke crouched down once again to be level with her, before he broke the silence, "I'll carry you."

"Sasuke," Sakura's voice faintly came out raspy and tired. She wished she had a mirror to see her face at that point.

"No buts," he replied as he offered her his back, "Come on, I won't say it again."

"I swear, if you put me under genjutsu I will kill you," she said as she put her arms around his shoulder.

He couldn't help but smirk at her empty threat. She was so light, even though she had her belongings on her.

He had done harsh training in the desert before, and he knew that they were going to be fine. He would bug Orochimaru from early morning until late evening for physical and jutsu training. A one day and a half journey shouldn't be so bad.

Once she was holding on to him tightly, he held onto her leg for extra support and leaned forward so that her weight would be against his back before he got up.

"Thank you," she leaned in and kissed his cheek, while his ear immediately turned red and he said nothing in reply. As she hugged him tightly, she could feel his heartbeat going faster and faster as the seconds went by.


	16. Shifting Sands

**Chapter 16: Shifting Sands**

After a few hours running, the sun began to set and the temperature began to significantly cool down. They didn't talk much before Sakura insisted to make a stop for Sasuke to rest.

Once he sat her down, he immediately laid down on the sand panting from the physical strain under high temperatures. Sakura stared at him in concern before she took out her water bottle and a cloth. She was worried that he would get heat stroke since his skin looked flushed and his breathing was shallow.

"How are you feeling?" Sakura asked in concern as she touched his face to feel his temperature.

In a silent stubbornness, he didn't reply until a cool cloth was placed on his forehead. "I'm fine, don't worry - your face is still swollen."

"Don't be stubborn, let me take care of you," Sakura wiped his face with another cool cloth. "I have to bring your temperature down, or you'll overheat," she replied as she placed a cool cloth on his wrists and placed one on his chest as well.

Sasuke silently complied - he began to feel better as his temperature lowered and she continued to tend to him. A part of him liked the attention and care she was giving him - sometimes it still felt foreign to him to be taken care of. Either way he felt extremely appreciative. He took a small sip of water that she offered him before he took another and another. He had to drink slowly to avoid wasting water.

"You must be hungry, here have some," she handed him small pieces of dried fish that they had preserved for their trip. "Don't eat too fast... you'll throw up," she warned, as she took a bite for herself.

After a few moments of silence, she heard a soft sigh and she could tell that he had just fallen asleep. She placed his head on her lap, while she kept working on bringing his temperature down.

With some of her chakra reserves replenished, she decided to take care of her face while he slept. Concentrating, she could feel the connective tissues being repaired as she worked in small areas at a time. She wanted to repair the damage just in case anybody showed up - where she'd have to defend herself and Sasuke.

By the time she was almost done, night had fallen and she found herself in pitch darkness while the only thing shining around her was the green chakra emanating from her palms. Placing Sasuke's head on her travel bag, she decided to start a campfire to keep herself and Sasuke warm for the night.

Once she successfully kindled the fire, she placed a hand on his chest while the green chakra still lit the area around them. She checked Sasuke's vitals and he seemed to be in much better shape. Apart from the spent stamina and chakra, everything else was fine: temperature, heartbeat, and blood pressure.

A warm and comforting sensation invaded his senses as he slowly woke up. The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the green glow coming from Sakura's hand as she tended to him, and the warmth from the small campfire.

"I'm feeling much better now - thank you," he declared as he brought his hand up and clasped her hand firmly.

"I'm glad to hear that," she smiled warmly.

Sasuke immediately sat up - he didn't want to be a burden to her much longer, he could tell that she took care of him while he slept for a few hours.

Once he turned around to face her, the first thing that he wanted to check was her face. Barely touching her chin with his fingertips, he was fearing that she would still be in pain.

His sudden interest in her face caught her by surprise - she wasn't expecting that reaction at all.

"It's fine, don't worry," she chuckled lightly, "Good as n - "

Several faint presences could be felt nearby, springing both of them to their feet.

Sasuke kicked some sand towards the fire, quenching the flames immediately. The first and most important thing they both had to do was to get their eyes accustomed to the darkness.

With his eyes ready, Sasuke scanned the vicinity. Shifting his eyes slowly from side to side, he scanned everything around them, trying to detect the slightest change.

Sasuke could feel the presence of multiple beings some distance away, but for some reason they weren't making themselves undetectable. His only worry was if the enemy had gotten reinforcements to go after them - and by reinforcements, that meant more of those damned pills.

The campfire had definitely given their position away. Gently nudging Sakura to follow him, they collected their belongings and proceeded to leave the= area. Quietly, he felt her tug his empty sleeve as they tried to walk as silently as possible.

The darkness didn't help either. Sasuke cursed under his breath since his eyes weren't getting accustomed to the dark as fast as he wanted. The smell of smoke from the campfire invaded his nostrils, and slightly burned his eyes. He could tell that she was ready to fight at his signal, but he was worried that she had spent too much energy on him.

For the next few hours, they successfully avoided anybody else. Sasuke's sensing range had never been that far to begin with - but it was enough to give him and Sakura a head start.

"The rest of this route is probably still unsafe," Sakura emphasized as she mentally calculated all of the other possible routes they could take.

Sasuke silently agreed. If they weren't in such unfavourable conditions, taking care of a large group of shinobi wouldn't be much of an issue for both of them. He reached towards his water bottle - it was nearly empty.

Now running, they both headed slightly southwards - towards a much less used route to Suna. They could tell they were going in the right direction once the soil became firm and the terrain was littered with pebbles. Because of this, it would take slightly longer to get to their destination since the terrain did not offer a straight route. Instead of entering Suna through the West, they would arrive through the South gates.

Once they were way out of the main route, they stopped to eat a bit of their rations and drink some of the last bits of water that they had. It seemed as if this less travelled route was going to be much safer at least.

X

After two extra days of travelling with minimal supplies, Sasuke and Sakura entered the South gates of Sunagakure in the evening. The ridged fortress could be seen from the distance, while guards maintained a steady look upon their arrival. They both felt exhausted since neither had properly slept for two days straight. Sakura could feel the weight under her eyes, while she yawned frequently. One of the things she wanted the most was to take a proper bath, put on fresh clothes and sleep on a comfortable bed. She felt completely drained and exhausted.

It didn't take long after identifying themselves as Konoha ninjas to the gatekeepers before a bearded Sand shinobi approached them and courteously asked if they could visit the Lord Kazekage before they rested from their trip.

The couple felt confused by the urgency of the request, it was quite late.

X

The Kazekage's office was in a building in the very centre of the village. The kanji for "Wind" was drawn on the wall. The bearded Sand shinobi led the way while he kept throwing occasional glances at the couple following him. Once they reached the building the bearded shinobi was dismissed. Without any formalities, Sakura was the first one to enter the Kazekage's office while Sasuke followed right behind her.

The Kazekage's office was strangely similar to Kakashi's Hokage office. Lots of scattered papers, scrolls, books, and photos of previous Kazekages lining the office walls. The light sand coloured walls and a few plants adorned the plain looking room while the round windows had an unobstructed view of the town around it.

"Thank you for making it all the way here Sakura -" Gaara paused to acknowledge Sasuke as well. "It is good to see you too, Sasuke." With a subtle look, Gaara could tell that his guests had encountered trouble on their way to Sunagakure.

"Aah," Sasuke returned the brief acknowledgement.

"I will be brief - you both look tired," Gaara shifted a few pieces of paper in front of him. "There have been a few attacks by a group that call themselves the Red Scorpions - they have been targeting high profile travellers for a while. The Daimyo was one of the most recent victims and he had many skilled shinobi with him. I heard from the recent preliminary reports that you both got attacked on the way here - "

Sasuke did not bother to inquire into how Gaara had gotten this information so quickly.

"Yes," Sasuke confirmed without thinking twice. "Are they sand shinobi?"

The only concern Sasuke had at that moment was to understand why a group so dangerous as the one they had encountered was running rampant on a well travelled route without any sort of repercussion.

"Most likely," Gaara continued, "They are mercenaries...What is strange is that they also use the same pills to attack Sand Shinobi in the past... I was told that the culprits are still being held?"

"Yes," Sakura hesitated.

Getting up from his seat, Gaara looked out the window. "The reason why I summoned both of you here is because I fear that this issue may get worse - there are still several anti-Kazekage groups lying around and a small army of mercenaries could overtake any nation easily."

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged wearied glances. He could tell that she was just as confused as he was. Either way the Kazekage was well informed.

"I will be requesting cooperation with Konoha to solve this issue as soon as possible."

Despite the direct request from the Kazekage, they both had clear orders to keep their information under wraps for the time being. Their mission was in fact much larger than this current issue - if they were able to successfully bring it to a close, it would also mean that these mercenary groups would have no more suppliers.

Gaara was right for the most part, but at that point they didn't have any solid leads apart from the random attacks and the doctor from the land of Hot Water.

"There isn't much else that we know actually," Sasuke chimed in. "Let us know if we can help you in any way."

Quietly, Gaara nodded before he changed the subject. "The inauguration is in two days, rest as much as you like."

On cue, Kankuro walked into the office and greeted Sakura warmly - after all she had saved his life and the Kazekage's a few years ago. Sasuke on the other hand was another story - Kankuro didn't _hate_ the man, it was just that he seemed to always bring trouble wherever he went. Kankuro tried to greet the second guest with courtesy before he led them through town to an Inn. Overall he felt somewhat puzzled as to why Sakura had come on a trip with this _guy_...were they on a mission together or was there something more?

X

The streets were empty and the inn was not too far off from the core of the village. It was a two floored building with sandy coloured walls and rounded windows - an architectural style that matched several other buildings in the village.

Sakura had stayed here several years ago after the Kazekage rescue mission, along with Naruto and the rest of the team. Unconsciously, Sakura gripped over her clothes where the sword had run through her - the pain was hard to forget.

The cozy lighting of the Inn cast a soft shadow underneath them as they approached the entrance.

"There it is," Kankuro broke Sakura's train of thought. "If I can be of any assistance, let me know," he said while maintaining eye contact with Sakura while effectively ignoring Sasuke's presence.

The Inn was well staffed and Sasuke decided to step back to allow Sakura to make all of the arrangements with the receptionist who had been staring at him the moment he had walked in. He definitely didn't like being ogled by people - much less people he had never seen before.

After going through some paperwork, the receptionist pointed towards the cloaked traveller who was being standoffish and asked if he was tagging along.

"Um, yes. Would that be an issue?" Sakura felt surprised at the remark. Inns always carried enough bedding for as many as four people per room, so it shouldn't have been anybody else's business whether or not she had more people in her room.

Noticing her own improper conduct, the receptionist profusely apologized saying that the information was that Miss Haruno was the only guest that would be present for the inauguration and so they had only booked her a one bedroom room.

Sakura laughed nervously before she grabbed the keys that were offered to her, mumbling a word of gratitude, and explaining that the last minute arrangement was going to work just _fine_.

Sasuke heard the whole awkward exchange with an amused look on his face, before he followed Sakura.

"Why do people have to be so intrusive sometimes?" she whispered back to him, trying not to make a scene.

X

"The shower definitely helped get over that adventure," Sakura confessed.

"Get some rest - I will go get us something to eat," Sasuke said as he followed her out of the bathroom while he towel dried his hair. His fingers were wrinkled from the extra long shower..."There's a couple of things I want to check out tomorrow, I won't be long."

The room was small but comfortable enough to rest well after being on the go for a few weeks. Sakura pulled the bedding from the closet and placed them side by side in the centre of the room. "I'll get our travel clothes sorted out tomorrow as well."

Facing the door, Sasuke stopped before taking another step out "Sakura?"

"Yes?" she replied looking up attentively.

"Whoever attacked us knew you were on your way here. Now the question is; what is their purpose in attacking you?"

"And their connection with the Land of Hot Water," she completed his thoughts.

"If they had succeeded in anyway attacking anybody from the Leaf - it could stir a crisis amongst the five great nations. And whoever is supplying these pills would profit greatly."

"Yes! The pill!" Sakura got up from her spot and ran towards her bag. "I knew I was forgetting something."

"There it is," she announced triumphantly, holding a destroyed piece up for him to see. "I got this from the desert floor before I ran towards you." She placed the small piece inside a plastic container. "I will need to pick up a few extra supplies to analyse the new one tomorrow. Something tells me the two samples we have are related."

x

The moment Sasuke stepped out of the Inn, he felt a faint chakra nearby that was trying to actively mask his presence. It was an extremely subtle presence that would have not been noticeable to a less skilled ninja. He tried not to think too hard about it - he was tired and it was quite late already. If the presence in question gave off any bloodthirst, he would readily be able to defend himself.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to return with a small bag from the nearest convenience store. Despite the fact that they still had food and supplies on them, it was nice to eat something other than rations.

"I'm back," he declared as he took his shoes off and placed the small bag by his feet.

"I made some tea, what did you pick up?" she replied enthusiastically as she placed two mugs on a small table in front of her.

"Some local fare," he placed two food containers on the table. "Apparently this is quite popular because of the hot and dry weather." Sasuke observed Sakura for a few seconds. With a grin on his face, he wanted to see if she would say something since he knew exactly what kind of food she had been craving.

Trying to look completely uninterested, Sasuke slid a small covered dish towards her. "Here I brought you some anmitsu as well."

"Oh! Really!?" Her sudden excitement was palatable as she decided to attack the desert before the dinner. "Do you want me to save you some?" she beamed as she prepared to take the first bite.

"I'll pass on the sweets," he had never been a fan of them in the first place.

X

The sunlight peeked from the curtains, while it slowly began to warm up the cold desert air. The freezing temperature of the night would soon be overcome with the unrelenting heat of the desert.

Despite going to sleep extra early, Sakura still felt tired from their trip to Suna. Whenever she slept at a different place, she'd always have a hard time sleeping well.

Sasuke on the other hand seemed to sleep quite easily, and for some reason she knew his hawk-like senses would wake him up if there was any slight changes in anything around him.

She tried to tiptoe around the room to get dressed and ready to leave before Sasuke startled her by sitting up wide awake.

"You never seem to ever have any issues waking up so quickly," she teased while she got dressed.

He held his gaze intently as she got ready to start her day. He felt glad to have returned home when he did. If he had taken longer, Sakura would have gone on this trip without him. Despite all the odd places and missions they had gone through in the past few weeks, the time he had spent with her had been the happiest moments for him in a long time. It was strange how bonds and feelings could develop so quickly when there was no more hatred or revenge following him like a shadow and preventing him from being happy.

A mutual look of understanding between them was all he needed to feel the constant reassurance of her feelings for him. Her soft smile and the shy look in her eyes was something that had never changed about her. Whenever she tried to stare intently at him, her cheeks would lightly go pink while her eyes would always shift from side to side before she could build the courage to make a solid eye contact.

x

The last thing Sasuke wanted was for the cooperation Naruto had fought to attain amongst the Five Great Nations to crumble so easily. As they walked out of the Inn together, his mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts of the impending danger they could be in. Not that he had ever doubted Sakura's abilities to fight and survive on her own, but even with him being around she still got hurt -

"I guess I'll get going," she broke his silent train of thoughts. "I'll let you know how it goes later."

"I'll go get breakfast," he replied in a voice louder than usual as he smirked the moment he saw confusion written all over her face.

There was something Sasuke wanted to do and that was to find out what was happening in Suna, as soon as possible. If a mercenary group was behind this, and they were from Suna, then Sasuke was more than likely to run into whoever was managing this group from the shadows.

Sasuke knew for a fact that Suna had always been plagued by anti-Kazekage groups, ever since the previous Kage was killed by Orochimaru, and Gaara was taken away by the Akatsuki. During these most recent times of peace, many assumed these groups had been put down.

Sasuke once again felt a presence following him as soon as he left the Inn and parted ways with Sakura. It was definitely the same presence from the night before. Nonetheless, he didn't particularly feel worried about being in danger. Curiosity is what got the better of him. What did the person following him want?

The darker streets of Sunagakure were lined with several different street food shops. The different scents mixed and travelled for several blocks through the light breeze of the morning. Trying to look interested in the street food in front of him, while trying to pick up any clues as to why he was being followed, Sasuke went from stand to stand as he walked down the dark alley, as if he was trying to pick what to eat for breakfast.

"You are finally back?" someone could be heard behind him.

Sasuke decided to play it cool and go along with whatever was happening.

"What if I am?" Sasuke did not divert his eyes from the food in front of him, but his hand was ready to draw his katana.

"Well, you've been gone for a while. We have been carrying _your_ plan," the man said calmly.


End file.
